The Demise of Daily Newspapers

The demise of major urban daily newspapers, which has been foretold for over half a century--roughly since the arrival of television in the early 1950's--finally seems to be upon us. The rise of popular dailies more or less paralleled the industrial expansion beginning in the mid-19th Century (first in Europe), reached a crescendo in the 1920's and 1930's, then began its long period of decline and consolidation beginning in the 1940's. Television directly challenged print media from the Fifties onward, but major dailies held their own, increasingly relying upon ad revenue to make up the shortfall from subscription and street sales. As recently as five years ago, major newspapers were making big profits--reported to be in the neighborhood of 12-20% per annum. Under the Bush Administration, attempts were made to facilitate the consolidation of cross-media conglomerates, generating fears of political homogenization, not surprising given the wholesale elimination or downsizing of news divisions at all levels during the Eighties and Nineties.  

It was clear, given the enormous pull of the World Wide Web--its speed and efficiency--that eventually some form of online media news dissemination would challenge other media (newspapers, television, radio), but no one could have predicted that it would happen so quickly. Just as Amazon and Alibris brought about the downfall of both the retail and used book "brick & mortar" businesses, online news services, many of which were maintained by the newspaper organizations themselves (!), have drawn ad attention away from print media, erasing their profit margins almost overnight. 

Is the personal computer a viable replacement for the material text of newspapers, magazines and other more portable print formats? To some degree it is, but for the majority of customers for traditional print media, the disappearance of regular dailies is neither convenient nor desirable. 

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. For my whole life--with the exception of brief periods in the Midwest, and a year abroad in 1985--the San Francisco Chronicle (the "Voice of the West") has been where I got my news. As smaller town newspapers gradually died away, the Chronicle maintained a stable subscription base, cutting across class, ethnic and economic lines to serve the whole community. Where does the impending cessation of newspapers--as primary transmitters of information and informed (political) opinion--leave the great mass of citizens who depend upon it, and for whom the personal computer is not, and may never be, a viable or practical alternative? 

Even more troubling, is the fact that the disappearance of newspapers is occurring at the very same time that television and radio news bureaus, and national and international news services, are cutting budgets and staff.

It's by now a relatively old idea--that a democracy depends to a large degree on the existence of a free press to function properly--but it's as pertinent and crucial today as it has been at any point in our last two hundred plus years as a nation. Without investigative journalists digging for news and stories, without timely reporting of unfolding events of concern at all levels of government and commerce, how can the citizenry act responsibly and with the requisite knowledge, to protect their own interests. 

I'm not sure the internet is properly structured, or prepared to step in and occupy the function of newspapers. As for myself, I've never "read the news" online, since I was never able to navigate as efficiently among linked pages or sections, as I could a physical newspaper. I've subscribed continuously to the SF Chronicle for nearly 35 years, and now read it more religiously than ever, frequently writing letters to the editor. If it goes under, there'll be a big hole in my awareness of the world at large. 

The survival instinct of the news media seems not to be very great at this moment in time. That may, ironically enough, be one of the symptoms of the disease itself. The audience still seems to be there, it's the business model that has changed. Computer technology continues to destroy parts of our intellectual infrastructure, without supplying any real replacements. We seem in the midst of a watershed moment--a gap in time--in which old paradigms are giving way, but not to new, more efficient and universally useful ones. This feels more like a contraction. Less news. Less convenience. Less access.