Is print dead or at least dying?

[Walt34]

So, part of the reason they're dying is because they can't be trusted.

There's that, and another issue I see is they're always in too much of a hurry to make their deadline. They'd rather publish wrong information, or partial information, or unsubstantiated information right now, than accurate information later on.

I can see that when I read "We reached out to contact XYZ but received no response" meaning XYZ didn't answer the phone right away and didn't return the call within five minutes.

Way back in the '70's my younger sister worked at a small local newspaper for about six months. The experience soured her on news from any source and she said it confirmed every stereotype she'd ever heard about news reporters.

 

[MichaelB]

US paper sales are not growing, but they’re also not shrinking, so it doesn’t look like print is dying. Printed books, magazines, newspapers seem to be readily available. The world has been expecting print to disappear since the 70’s and it’s still going strong. Just look at computer printer sales.

As for media, even though it’s not really part of the thread topic, it still seems to have garnered some interest and posts. I think we are living in a golden age of media, with more high quality information available than any time in human history. Readily available and more affordable than ever. There’s also plenty of sludge, but that’s always been the case. I think we all find what we search for.

 

[Midpack]

Sure, some social media is wrong. But a lot of it is right and now people realize that the newspapers and major media have been lying to them for years. Before we only had what they said in print with no real way to verify, but today someone can post the actual footage that shows that what we were told was not right.

So, part of the reason they're dying is because they can't be trusted.

IME most people can't even begin to know what is true and not in social media. I have seen people obviously misled thousands of times.

I don't agree that we can't trust major media as much as there's almost no major media with no agenda or bias anymore if that's what you mean. Now the term “news” is used to mean anything and everything unfortunately…

 

[brett]

After retiring we sold our home, put everything in storage, and traveled for seven months. Then we a three month furnished condo rental. We had a requirement to deal with all of our personal business on line...no mail, no phone. We either canceled paper subscriptions or moved to digital platforms. It worked like a charm.

Ten years later we enjoy not getting copious amounts of snail mail. We had no desire to convert back any of those that we had moved to digital. I cannot think of a single statement, financial, bill,or otherwise that arrives in the mail. We hardly ever have to shred mail as we did in the past with any hard copy that had personal data on it.

All we get now is junk mail that does not make it past the recycle bin. Plus a few Xmas cards. Mailbox gets emptied one a week at most. Once every two or three weeks by a neighbour when we are away.

 

[athena53]

All we get now is junk mail that does not make it past the recycle bin. Plus a few Xmas cards. Mailbox gets emptied one a week at most. Once every two or three weeks by a neighbour when we are away.

I agree- paper mail volume is way down for me. I got a PO Box 3 years ago due to thefts from mail boxes and one visit a week is usually enough. Most of it goes into their recycle/shred bins before I even leave. My favorite tour company still sends a lot of snail mail including lavish catalogues 2 or 3 times a year; I noted on my comment card on my last trip they need to cut way down. They do plenty of e-mail marketing as well.

 

[sparky08]

It’s not just print, but newspapers and magazines in general are dying.

I used to subscribe to a couple newspapers, but I let them lapse. It got to be less news and more partisan commentary.

I’d pay for balanced news….digitally of course.

 

[Koolau]

US paper sales are not growing, but they’re also not shrinking, so it doesn’t look like print is dying. Printed books, magazines, newspapers seem to be readily available. The world has been expecting print to disappear since the 70’s and it’s still going strong. Just look at computer printer sales.

As for media, even though it’s not really part of the thread topic, it still seems to have garnered some interest and posts. I think we are living in a golden age of media, with more high quality information available than any time in human history. Readily available and more affordable than ever. There’s also plenty of sludge, but that’s always been the case. I think we all find what we search for.

Respectfully disagree. At least I would say a lot more sludge than confirmable truths. Of course, I understand not everyone agrees with this so YMMV.

 

[MichaelB]

Thanks for the interesting discussion.