A Few Thoughts on the Dwindling Life of the Newspaper

After researching America’s track record with the newspaper industry, I found several interesting themes. The two I settled on sum up exactly what is currently affecting this nation most. When it comes to the newspaper industry, America is between a rock and a hard place- the rock being the convenience of the internet and the hard place being a down economy. Although these are just two setbacks, they will eventually lead to the death of the newspaper.
Everyday more websites are created, catering to citizens and giving them exactly what they want- inexpensive and easily accessible information. American’s “want what they want, when they want it,” so to speak, and newspapers do not give them that. The internet is constantly being updated. This gives users fresh information by the minute, meaning anyone with internet access has unlimited information at their disposal. As long as newspapers are delivered in a one-a-day package, Americans are going to resort to the bigger of the two evils.
The second point I would like to discuss is the state of America’s current economy. The paper industry employ’s thousands of U.S. citizens, and as newspapers go out of business, so do paper manufacturers. To expand on layoffs, the industry is no longer able to staff as many reporters as they would like to, which also does not bode well. Newspapers are also cutting back on travel expenses and cannot afford to send reporters to cover as many stories in person, compromising on the quality of reporting in general. In addition to countless other daggers, the slumping economy will only twist the knife in newspapers’ backs.

An informing website on the industry is-

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7830218