Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age

“More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”

–Woody Allen

Editor & Publisher had a story last week by John Rung entitled “What Newspapers Need to Do — To Survive.” The story opens by chronicling the latest theories concerning the fate of newspaper, and questioning what the industry has to do if it’s going to survive the challenges it’s currently facing: “The debate rages on: Is the newspaper industry on the throes of ruin, or is this simply another cyclical downturn in our business? Will the onslaught of new media wipe us out, or will we survive and prosper as we did in the 20th century against the threat of radio and television?”

Rung’s answer to all of this is that newspapers indeed have the capability to survive, even in a world dominated by the digital delivery and consumption of reading material that used to be the sole domain of newspapers. Now, Rung’s not saying that newspapers will rebound and regain the readers they’ve lost. In fact, he seems perfectly resigned to ways the business has already changed: “The virtual monopoly we enjoyed on certain categories of classified is over. Finito. Finished. Dead. And it ain’t coming back. Those awful commercials you see that make fun of people who search for cars through the newspaper should be taken seriously. Our competitors have offered a cheaper, more effective way to shop for certain items. It’s clear that some ships in our classified armada have sailed — or sunk.”

Instead, what Rung’s saying is that there are new areas where newspapers can appeal to Internet-savvy users. Whether or not he’s correct of course remains to be seen, but I like that someone is finally coming out and saying that — in terms of the newspaper industry — it’s their game (and audience) to lose. And they can either ignore the problem, hoping it goes away, or they can do something foolish like resist the changes taking place all around them and stick to the way that they’ve been doing things for the last fifty years. As Rung writes: “We are at a crossroads. This may be the death knell for newspapers, or it may simply be another challenge to overcome. The choice is ours.” Let’s hope they have the wisdom to choose correctly.

Editor & Publisher: What Newspapers Need to Do — To Survive