PressEthic

There are plenty of reasons to fear doomsday. The earth is getting warmer at an alarming rate and we're about to run out of oil. North Korea just tested a nuke and America (can you believe this?) isn't any safer from terrorism despite President Bush's valiant effort to make thousands of examples out of innocent Iraqis to make sure everyone knows what his administration will do if attacked.

Fortunately, however, we don't have to fear the death of newspapers quite as gravely. According to an article published a few months ago in The Guardian ("Web will boost local press, says Johnston chief"), combining operations with the Internet will help local newspapers stay strong and in print. The New York Times and other major U.S. papers have already begun to integrate their Web and print operations and, though circulation has declined, it has not dropped off completely.

The East Bay Express, an alternative paper from the San Francisco Bay area, offered comparisons between the Internet/newspaper debate and earlier predictions of the downfall of various media ("Not Dead Yet; Newspapers aren't the only medium whose demise has long been predicted." 31 May 2006). Apparently, people thought that VCRs' recording capabilities would render TV commercials ineffective, thus sending the entire industry into bankruptcy. TV was supposed to have killed radio but the Express says "the average American listens to nineteen hours of radio a week which isn't bad for a medium that was supposed to die in the Truman era."

The New York Times also offered an angle on newspapers' resiliance: those little grocery coupons that come folded into them every Sunday. With coupons on their side, newspapers are sure to survive this century at least.

This sounds to me like good news. Too bad I'm trumpeting it on the Internet.