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Newspapers’ Problems |
Big News
News organizations are very important parts of daily life – they help us to stay informed about what is going on in our own neighborhoods as well as around the world! The news today is available in many forms, from television and radios programs, to online sites, newspapers, and magazines!
Have you ever thought about what it would be like to live without TV, radio, and the Internet? It might sound impossible, but there was a time when these things didn’t exist! (Ask the grown-ups you know - they’ll remember when at least some of those didn’t exist!) In the days before these other forms of media, people had to rely on printed news to get their information. The “modern newspaper” similar to the one we have today first became popular in the 1500s and 1600s (following the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-1400s!) and has remained pretty popular ever since.
Recently, however, lots of newspapers have had trouble staying in business!
Newsy Business
There are a few reasons why newspapers have recently encountered some troubles.
One of the main reasons lots of newspapers are having trouble has to do with how people are getting their news. Now that so many people read their news online (where it is usually free), many popular newspapers (which are usually not free) have seen a major drop in the number of readers who buy the printed paper. Most younger people who have grown up with the Internet are not even in the habit of reading a printed!
Even though newspapers have been competing with the Internet for a few years, recent changes in the economy have made it additionally difficult for lots of papers. Most newspapers make money from advertisements, but with so many businesses struggling through the recession, many are spending less money on ads! In the past lots of papers also relied on people placing classified ads, which refers to advertisements people buy when they want to post available job positions, home sales, apartment rentals, second-hand cars, and more. However, most people are now posting these ads online instead, where they are often free!
Lots of newspaper companies have tried to adjust to this change in technology by offering more online content and making money from advertisements placed on their websites. However, in many cases, this has unfortunately not been enough and some papers are now closing, cutting their staff, or switching to online-only publications and cutting their regularly printed papers.
Going paperless?
It is sad to see so many good newspapers going out of business, and many people are now wondering what the future of the news will be. As younger generations grow up learning to read their news online and the world puts in a greater effort to conserve paper, it is likely that more and more newspapers will continue to cut their number of printed papers or discontinue them altogether.
To see printed newspapers fade out of use will be a really big switch. What do you think are some of the disadvantages and some of the benefits of our new technologies and these new ways of life?