Death of print media, am I and other bloggers to blame?

After receiving some very sad news yesterday that someone very close to me lost his job at The Washington Times, I had a Willy Loman, from the novel Death of a Salesman, moment. What happens when everything you believed crumbles around you?

Here’s a hard working black man, not in jail, never been in jail, handling his responsibilities who was inches away from retirement and now his job has stopped the presses…literally.

I know, it happens. Industry fluctuations, birth of new generations, the nature of ebb and flow, yadda, yadda, yadda…but it’s always sad when it happens to you. Who doesn’t want to end their career on their own terms?

The newspaper as a printed communicaton has been struggling for years. Heck, here I am sitting on my couch in my jammies, VH-1 playing in the background, munching on edamame, and sipping jasmine tea pumping out whatever comes to mind in my blog. I would never have dreamed that as an armchair blogger that I’d have access to information and people that used to be reserved exclusively for the big newspapers. Am I, and others like me, to blame? Has the birth of my career (using that term loosely because this shizz surely ain’t putting pennies in my pocket…yet) led to the death of another?

I wonder if the next generation will not even see printed communications like the newspaper. They’ll never have the fond memory I have of my father sitting in his wicker chair on Sunday morning- newspaper and cup of coffee in hand, the smell of his scrambled eggs and sight of the bread crumbs on the plate from his toast. “That’s what daddies do,” I used to say to myself as a child. Will my fond memory be replaced by images of my dad with a cup of coffee and laptop in hand or better yet a micro mini tiny-pod playing news stories as told by millions of average joes out there?

(no my dad is not the one that lost his job…wasn’t sure if I started blurring my stories together for you too much to follow)

What are your thoughts?

Here are some articles that talk about decline of the newspaper industry:

The Washington Times online- In ‘survival mode,’ newspapers slashing jobs

Democracy Now- Newspapers Suffer Spate of Layoffs, Decline in Circulation, Ad Revenue, Stock Price: A Roundtable Discussion on the State of the Industry

TruthDig.com- Bad Days for Newsrooms–and Democracy

Fallon Hester says:

August 6, 2008 at 3:45 pm

I think newspapers and print in general are dying a slow and agonizing death. For example on Amazon you can purchase a gadget that imports books electronically so that you can read on the go, get text messages about damn near anything (I am sure you will be able to vote one day via text), and sell things via electronic classifieds known as Craigslist and Ebay – just to name a few.

Do people even read anymore? I tried to start up a book club the other day and I got maybe 20% response. 20%! Americans want information fast with as little effort as possible. Who has time to read silly archaic things called books and papers (hint: I do!).

I think some things do not get better with improved technology.

Save the bread crumbs!

wwj says:

August 6, 2008 at 5:56 pm

Remember that “bridge” they used to tell us about in the 1990’s that will lead us into the 21st century. Well, underneath that bridge lies the death of local radio DJs, printed newspapers, transistor radios,bagged cell phones and 99cent gallon gas. Today I was going to give myself a manicure and had to remind myself to leave my thumb nail longer than the other nails because I have to use it as a tool to text on my cell phone. Who knows tomorrow I might not be able to turn on my TV because I forgot to buy a converter box.

Missy says:

March 19, 2009 at 3:54 pm

Bloggers are not to blame for the decline of print. However, they might want to be more careful when dismissing print as a dinosaur. When newspapers cease to exists, who will pay the AP to bring content for you to write about? And what will they use to cite as sources?