TOW: Are Newspapers Dying?

I read a very interesting article about the 'first' death of newspapers that happened back in 1918. The debts were high, people thought that democracy would be absolutely crushed by the loss of multiple views in the press. After all, with only one morning daily, how can a big city survive? They need more opinions, more views, more takes on a singular subject. How can we LIVE without ten different people talking about one thing in a physical rag? How???

As someone who is planning on going into the great field of public relations, there is something to be said for the art of 'spin.' Spin, as defined by the all-seeing Wikipedia, is "is providing an interpretation of an event or campaign to persuade public opinion in favor or against a certain organization or public figure". The point of spin is to influence people one way or another. Now, there are good uses of spin, and bad uses of spin, but in relation to the death of the newspaper, we are seeing the advent of a good kind of spin. Why is that? That's because there are less political relationships associated with publishers. There aren't as many top-down relations in the media now. Now people have the right and the ability to access media in a variety of ways, thanks to the advent of the Internet. (Unless you live in China. Sorry, China.)

More and more, media is represented by one person, versus a group of people with a similar goal. (Although group of dedicated individuals sometimes blog together in one online space.) and more people who represent nothing but themselves, an expert commentator. In other words, it's sort of like the invention of the telephone. We are brought infinitely closer to experts in less time than ever before.

However, while certainly, the article says that the newspaper is not dying, they are somewhat mistaken. Because physically, the newspaper is dying. There are fewer reasons to use a newspaper, and a major reason that keeps the newspaper alive, namely ad revenue,
used to be supplied by classified ads. But as anyone who uses the Internet knows, you can easily meet your needs on the internet, usually for free. As well, advertisers are finding, statistically, that advertising is not as effective as it was in the past. So, while most newspapers might survive online, I doubt they will continue to thrive in the same way they have in the future. Given the economic crisis, combined with the green culture springing up left and right, it might be time for somebody to yell, 'Stop the presses.'