The Future of Newspapers 

The newspaper industry as a whole will continue to be a form of news media; however, small local newspapers are slowly fading away into the shadows of news media giants. As mentioned in the video, the internet has played a major role in the slow digression of the newspaper industry. Publishing newspapers online is cheaper than printing newspapers. Also, paid advertising, a key source of revenue for newspapers, is rapidly being replaced by free advertising websites such as craigslist online.

If newspapers were to disappear, I don’t feel like the news industry would be the same, and other media would not be able to adequately fill that gap. On a national level, media would be fine without newspaper; however, on a local level, a key part of the community that should be covered, would not be, and therefore affect the local area. Even now, there are instances, as was mentioned in the video, where local newspapers are disappearing. In these cases grassroots journalism would come into play, which is what I am reading about for the book review assignment for this class. Reporting the news would then fall into the hands of everyday citizens which could be done via blogging or the utilization of social networking sites.

In order for the newspaper industry to survive, it will have to identify distinct newspaper elements that are essential to its readers, and exploit them in order to keep its audience.  The simple fact that a newspaper is tangible may be enough for some people. My communications teacher expressed this sentiment in class one day while we were discussing this very issue. The newspaper industry may even want to start borrowing its ideas from other media. For example, maybe newspapers will start mimicking its layout after newspaper website interfaces.