In last week’s issue of Time magazine, I read about how Advance Publications decided to stop printing Ann Arbor News, out of Ann Arbor, Michigan. You can read the story here.
The opportunity for the community to save their newspaper is well-founded, and admirable, if not important for saving journalistic integrity.
See, I have no problem with online news. I read jsonline.com on a weekly basis. It’s how I get most of my news. I’ve set up Google reader to pull newsfeeds from my favorite sites. If anything, I’ve got all the news I need at my fingertips. The problem? INFORMATION OVERLOAD.
When people received their daily newspaper on their front doorstep, they could enjoy a cup of coffee while they read what happened in their community, and all over the world. You could choose what you wanted more information about just by reading headlines. If you wanted to know more, you read on. Of course, online stories have this same format. But, staring at a computer screen is a far cry from holding a tangible object in your hands. You also had someone else choosing the most important news that you should be reading, versus looking up hundreds of different news stories. Or worse, multiple stories on the same subject.
So in all fairness, Ann Arbor News is still in most respects alive. They’ll still print two issues per week on top of having all their content available online. As a business, it’s probably the best thing to do for a floundering art. But it also makes me realize that without having an actual newspaper to read, the Internet bombards me with information I don’t really need, every single day.
2 comments:
Call me old fashioned, or just plain old, but sometimes I really hate technology. Take Kindle for example. Great idea in many respects, but nothing beats the feeling of the last page of a book sliding through your fingertips to mark the end of your journey.
I wonder, how many people will Tweet "goodbye" on their deathbeds so their relatives don't have to worry about stopping by in person? Bah, too deep.
It's probably bc I was an English major in college, but there's no satisfaction like filling up a bookcase with a bunch of books you've read. Plus I like writing notes in the margins. I bet you'd eff up your Kindle doing that.
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