The death of print media

This topic is pretty prevalent in the news these days and is at the forefront of marketing discussions everywhere. Print media is dying and newspapers are not adapting to the new world quick enough to survive. I was watching the Daily Show with Jon Stewart the other day and as much as they create a satirical news program, they still do a good job reporting on some of the major issues in the world (albeit in a different form from traditional newscasts).

The show in question had a segment done by correspondent Jason Jones, fast forward to 4:30 of the clip, http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart/full-episodes/june-10-2009/#clip180782 (canadian version, for american go to Comedy Central June 10th, part 1). He went to the New York Times and talked with employees about the newspaper situation. He summed up the entire segment with this question to the Assistant Managing Editor of the paper "Why is aged news better than real time news?" and then asks the editor to "Give me one thing in there that happened today." He then finishes the interview by asking an editor "What's black and white and red all over?" the answer being the New York Times financial statements.

As entertaining as the clip is it raises good points for both sides of the argument. Newspapers don't deliver news in a timely enough manner for the new generation, they use rss feeds, blogs, online video, etc. From the newspapers point of view, you get people on the ground where the action is happening, experts in their area, and well versed/researched in the subject they are writing about. Which often times is not the case with a blog.

So, while the battle rages on, its becoming more and more evident that not long down the road the majority of newspaper presses will be coming to a stop as more and more people get their news electronically.