Internet killed the newspaper star

Our livelihood is now online journalism, but many of us here at Blogma honed skills in newspapers and remember the days when cutting and pasting text meant using scissors and glue. We nostalgically recall the hum of the press and the smell of ink (and cigarette smoke) wafting through the newsroom.

So while we're not surprised to see headlines like the one in yesterday's Media Daily News--"'05 Proving to be worst newspaper year since recession"--and are big believers in the Internet as a news medium, chronicles of a struggling newspaper industry tend to tug on our heartstrings. Some bloggers had the same response, and further pointed out that Internet doesn't always mix well with a cup of coffee on the back porch.

Others, however, have been disappointed by newspapers of late, which they say have shifted to fluffy entertainment news in order to compete for readers. Incidentally, The Los Angeles Times just launched "The Envelope," self-described as "The ultimate awards site."

Blog community response:

"Declining circulation figures may not be simply a matter of people reading news and views from the Internet instead of the newspaper. During my years of teaching, I knew numerous students who made no effort to 'keep up with current events.'...Authors of these pieces tend to assume that there will always be a market for traditional news outlets, but not only the Internet but changing consumer standards may be calling that assumption into serious question."
--The Claremont Institute

"When I read that newspapers are being killed by the Internet, all I can think is good riddance. Centralized talk pieces that decide what's important for us are antiquated and laughable in an age where we are approaching individual equality in publishing and collaboration...Budding journalists need not despair as there will always be an audience for good journalism, the lack of which is exactly why newspapers are dying."
--Obvious Diversion

"What's worse is the effect this will have on all media. TV and radio stations already have very slim news staffs. They rely on newspaper stories as the starting point for many of their own stories. As do magazines. And this will affect blogs as well, as they usually write about what's been published elsewhere. News starts with reporters, and most of them work for newspapers. More people might prefer to read their news on the Internet, but with newspapers declining, there simply won't be as many stories to read."
--codemangler on Slashdot