Freedom of the Web

As an added comment on my earlier post regarding the decline of Newspapers in America, I have to quote another source. This is worth mentioning in a blog like this which "recollects in tranquility" those powerful feelings we felt while growing up. Hopefully we are still amused by the pictures and moments described here.

I mention it because a pal of mine, Frank James, is the editor of the Chicago Tribunes Washington Bureau and the source of this information.

Frank's work has repeatedly reminded me of the fact that Newspapers in America deserve our consideration because they have provided innumerable services over the years. Who can forget the first time they were able to read The New York Times, The Bergen Record, or The Ridgewood Herald News through without anyone having to explain it to them? Maybe this occurred as late as college but it still happened none the less. This defining moment is being lost on a generation growing up with their primary source of information as The Internet. In my opinion, they need to be reminded of our simpler time and the less technological method in which we all shared our news. Please don't get me wrong, I am a firm believer in the potential of The Internet, as it affords me a lifestyle I have always dreamed about here in New York City.

My point is we need to pay attention to the decline of newspapers in America. They do not deserve an unceremonious send-off. We need to figure out a way to keep them relevant and profitable.

Without further commentary here is the piece which inspired this post:

...increasingly, Americans, free to roam like the buffalo, are turning to the Internet for their news.

Before anyone celebrates the decline of newspaper readership and the increase in Internet viewership, it's worth considering the financial resources that strong newspapers and magazines bring to bear in the investigation of corruption in government, wrongdoing in private life and abuse of power in general.

The business model of the Web-site and the resources it takes to publish one aren't likely to sustain the sort of prize-winning journalism that Americans have come to cherish as a national tradition and indeed expectation. There are several strong newspapers behind this Web-site, for instance - struggling with the economic troubles that have besieged the national in general, for sure, yet still robust enough to deliver the sort of journalism that brought to light the corruption of the former governor of Illinois.

The Pew Research Center has found that, among those surveyed last year, just 39 percent of Americans said they had read a newspaper the day before, either in print or online. That was down from 43 percent in 39 percent in 2006.

The proportion reporting that they had read solely a print version of a newspaper fell by roughly a quarter, from 34 to 25 percent. And the 14 percent of Americans who said they had read a newspaper online was up 9 percent.

"The balance between online and print readership changed substantially between 2006 and 2008,'' Pew reports. "In 2008, online readers comprised more than a third of all newspaper readers. Two years earlier, fewer than a quarter of newspaper readers viewed them on the Web. This is being driven by a substantial shift in how younger generations read newspapers.

"In 2008, nearly equal percentages in Generation Y (born 1977 or later) read a newspaper online and in print; 16% said they read only a print newspaper, or both the Web and print versions, while 14% said they read a newspaper only on the internet, or both online and in print. In 2006, more than twice as many in Gen Y said they read a printed newspaper than the online version (22% vs. 9%).

"There is a similar pattern in newspaper readership for Generation X (born between 1965 and 1976). In 2008, 21% read only a print newspaper, or both an online and a print newspaper; 18% read a newspaper only on the Web, or both online and in print. In 2006, 30% of Gen X read a newspaper in print, while just 13% read a web version.

"Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and the Silent/Greatest Generations (born before 1946) continue to read newspapers at higher rates than do those in younger age cohorts.

"However, the proportion of Baby Boomers who said they read a newspaper yesterday slipped between 2006 and 2008, from 47% to 42%. The decline among Baby Boomers has come entirely in print readership (from 42% to 34%).''