Newspaper in the Digital Age

Mikayla Leskey | Arts & Entertainment

As a kid, I think we only got a physical newspaper once a month. It laid in the front of the driveway, wrapped in blue cling film unnoticed for months even as my parents ran it over with their car. The exposed edges would start to yellow and tear, whilst the film would get muddied and more destroyed until it eventually ripped open.

On the other hand, my Grandparents kept theirs pristine. It would sit on the side table next to my Grandma’s chair, with no marks or yellowed pages to be seen. The crosswords would be done, and the joke pages hanging in Grandpa’s workshop. The blue film would sit in the recycling bin, waiting to be reused. 

I guess, what I’m trying to say is that print media is dying with the digital age. The only people I know who still read the newspaper are my Grandparents. It makes sense, we’re able to know anything in the world with one click on our phones or computers. Print media has news from a week ago, something not needed when we can have real-time coverage.

Print Media is dying because of the internet. News outlets have resorted to shifting their articles and platforms online, in an attempt to stay with the times. This caused them to cover things, country-wide instead of local-wide. Instead of waiting a week, you only have to wait minutes and you’ll be able to know what happened.

News outlets have only taken advantage of being online. Most sources require a subscription of some kind to even be able to read an article. They’re withholding information just so their company won’t die. It makes sense, but most outlets are biased in one way or another, or focus on one subject rather than five. So when everything is all said and done, you’ll end up paying for seven different newspapers when you used to be able to know everything from just one. 

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Yet even with these parameters, print media is still being sold out. Whether it is because of elders or people who prefer a physical copy over digital, they’re still being sold. They’re covering local events; high-school sports games or obituaries. They’re giving information for upcoming events that you probably could only find on barely-used FaceBook pages.

Earlier, I said that print news is dying. It is, albeit slowly, but if online platforms keep on being vultures, then I can see it coming back to life. Especially when we’re in a time where people love information, but have no money to afford said information. Even if it sits forgotten on driveways, or well-loved on tables, print media isn’t going away anytime soon.