From the Hill: Stop the Presses: the death of print media
March 21, 2007
Lauren Thompson
One of my favourite musicals is the Disney classic, Newsies. In this film, Jack ‘Cowboy’ Kelly and his band of turn-of-the-century paperboys print a single page that seeks to revolutionize child labour laws.
This idea has always fascinated me. The thought that the printed word can bring justice and reveal truth; the power of a page to change the world.
Last weekend I attended the Associated Collegiate Press conference in Portland, Ore., and learned that such printed pages are quickly becoming obsolete. I was shocked to find that over a third of the seminars offered were directly related to online news media.
Relationship columnist Dan Savage made this trend the topic of his keynote speech at the conference. During his address, he cited the chairman of the New York Times as saying, “I really don’t know whether we’ll be printing the Times in five years, and you know what? I don’t care.”
In the face of this trend, I find myself clinging to my stack of papers with all the strength of nostalgia I can muster. I mourn that I live in the last generation of paperboys and highlighting classifieds to find a job. I lament that one day soon, the sound of crinkling newsprint will be a novelty, and the indelible and authoritative ink on paper will no longer be enough.
Despite my love of the literal paper, I succumb to the temptations of electronics every day: choosing dictionary.com over my loyal paperback, searching online for research instead of heading to the library.
But a mouse-click will never recreate the aesthetic joy of flipping through a book. Seeing and touching the words in front of me give them a tangible authority that cannot be mimicked on an ever-changing screen.
Not only my tactile nature gives me concerns. My biggest worries relate to the accuracy issues and information overload that comes with an electronic world. With news sites being updated at the hint of any new information, the risk for flaws is heightened by the second. And with more rush to inform, copy editors have less time to catch errors, which can degrade the English language.
In the deluge of information, news leaders lose the sense of authority they once had, because people now have to figure out for themselves what is reliable and worthwhile.
Perhaps most deplorable is that, amidst inaccuracies and overload, the classic journalistic fight for justice can be lost. It is too much too fast to grip and change people, because we are just waiting for the next piece of information to come our way. We should be out creating the news, taking action ourselves, letting what we already know impel us to create change, instead of sitting by our computers, searching someone else’s story.
I’m not trying to disregard the merits of online media. The medium is unavoidable, and much of the time, quite valuable. As the 2007 State of the News Media report, put on by journalism.org says, newsmakers—you and I—are beginning to control the press. Public forums allow for the trading of ideas, and people can know things faster than ever before.
But we must remember to always esteem the beauty and grace of the printed word. The printed word takes time and care. It allows for insight and investigation. It is tangible evidence that words hold meaning and power. Like the Newsies, we should never disregard the ability of a page to change our world.
Now you go...
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