ONLINE OR PRINT?

Thanks to today’s technology, almost everything is on the tips of our fingers, and just a click away. Newspapers have been affected greatly by this tech, and this has raised the question; are newspapers dying? It’s a very famous debate these days. Many people think that the print newspaper will become extinct soon.

Experts say that the future of journalism will depend on the digital world. On the other hand, another group of folks insist that newspapers have been with us for hundreds of years, and we will not abandon the classic newspaper until the end of the world. Although all news can be found online, this group of people still purchase daily newspapers and read them in print. “Newspaper circulation is dropping, display and classified ad revenue are drying up, and the industry has experienced an unprecedented wave of layoffs in recent years”, said journalist Tony Rogers. There is this reality that many big newspapers such as Rocky Mountain News, Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Tribune Company have filed bankruptcy. Today’s young people think that the internet is just a better place to get news. “On the web, newspapers are live, and they can supplement their coverage with audio, video, and the invaluable resources of their vast archives,” said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of USC’s s Digital Future Centre. However, papers aren’t dead yet. Yes, maybe they are going through tough times, and yes, the internet can offer many things that papers can’t, but they still exist, and it seems like it will take decades for them to disappear. In addition to all these, there are some handicaps for online news to exist solely. These online suppliers need some ads to dominate the sector financially, and that means that there is also a need for a new business model like paywalls. Therefore, it seems like the issue will keep staying controversial for a long time, and we will keep reading them both until one disappears from our lives.