Sunday, May 2, 2010

The disappearing newspaper

My newspaper is shrinking. Unlike the products in my previous post, the newspaper has been open about the fact. But still it is shrinking.

First it was the size of the pages. But now it's the number of pages. My Sunday paper is no bigger than Wednesday's used to be. Monday and Tuesday are laughable. I tried to calculate it once, articles versus ads, and there were only about 6 pages in the front section. The whole Monday/Tuesday paper is no bigger than my home town newspaper.

But that paper originated in a community of 30,000. This paper originates from the fifth largest metropolis in the country. Surely there is more than 6 pages of news in the city, the country, the world.

Yes, I know that the internet is supplanting the print media. But the newspapers themselves are accelerating their own demise. Many articles end with comments about referring to the internet for more information. What about the people with no Internet access? Yes, they still exist.

I read my paper with my breakfast. I don't want to buy a laptop to read my morning paper. Nor do I want to eat my breakfast at my desk.

The main reason I still subscribe to the paper is the comics and the columns. So far there is no really easy way to access 2 pages of comic strips on-line. And I like having my columnists in one easy to find package.

I think there is a Kindle edition, which would solve my breakfast table dilemma.  Would it have all the content from the Internet, or just replicate the daily edition?  Would reading it 'feel' the same?

More importantly, what would I do with all the shelf space I've set aside for future book purchases?

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