Death of the Printed Word

The printed word is dying . . . a slow and lingering death perhaps, but dying nevertheless.

This pains me. I worked for my college newspaper, then a local daily paper. After selling out, as my newspaper friends teased, I spent years in financial marketing, creating, developing and managing everything from client and broker newsletters, sales pieces, marketing packages and new-issue investment offerings. All printed. Some expensive and glossy and some one- or two-color weekly quickies.

I loved the fast pace of a daily newspaper, at least one or two news articles a day when I was a reporter and a few feature pieces every week. There was no better writing and reporting place in the world. And later there was no better editing place in the world. The sheer speed and volume of work was exhilarating. At an interview at Time magazine the very bright guy who interviewed me said I should go to grad school before landing full-time at some to-be-decided publication. He was probably right, but I wanted to get my hands in the ink somewhere . . . and newly married, the local paper, the Greenwich Time,  was the place. I’d worked there for a summer as an intern, so I figured it was the place to start.

When I started, the paper was printed a few short steps from where the editorial room was, reporters and editors rushing to make deadline. It was an afternoon paper then, and watching that day’s paper roll off the press was a regular routine. The printing operation was moved up to our sister paper, the Stamford Advocate, after they were purchased Times-Mirror, and we became a morning paper.

Not to date myself too much, but back then the only way to get the news was to read a daily paper. Now just about everyone has at least one computer, a smart phone or some other device on which they can get the latest headlines in seconds.

Even in the beginning, the decline was fast, smaller papers were soaked up by bigger ones, newspaper costs kept rising and circulations started falling, news was more available online, and online advertising cut into newspaper advertising. The classified ad market changed completely with the creation of outlets like Craigslist, and since classifieds provided a huge revenue stream for papers, they couldn’t generate growing profits.

Soon bigger papers were merged with other bigger papers, but circulation continued to fall and papers started to fail. Even papers like The New York Times (which I’ll argue remains the country’s best paper), were pulled into the death spiral. The digital age was fully upon us. And newspaper, magazine and book owners and publishers, not to mention writers, editors and other staff, are scrambling to catch up. Often not very successfully.

The vaulted New York Times continues to struggle, floundering to work its online product with its printed product. Deep staff cuts and changes at the top of the Times and other papers makes one wonder whether the depth and breadth of news coverage is a thing of the past. Even the better non-newspaper online news sources cover just bigger stories and often have daily gaps in features.

Of course, creating online content is cheaper than heating and maintaining the high-cost, centrally located buildings and printing facilities many newspapers have had for years. And since there’s no printing needed, capital costs are slashed.

So most papers today have an online presence, and many offer their full editorial content online. Often that content is free to readers. What remains to be seen is whether or not readers will pay for that content (and if so, how much?).

And while printed marketing materials will probably always be produced (salesmen like to hand things to potential customers), online marketing is a must for nearly every business.

The book business is suffering the same fate. E-readers are everywhere and Amazon’s new Kindle Fire has already hooked customers even deeper into the Amazon pipeline. While printed books continue to sell, the writing, as it were, is on the wall, though some of us remain attached to the feel and hominess of printed books, the simple fact is that for many people the Kindle, and other e-readers are convenient. Going on a trip? Download a few books and you don’t have to figure out how to fit them into your luggage. Notepads, computers and even smart phones are packed with books, magazines and newspapers.

And though sharing is limited and donating them to a good cause can’t be done, millions of books are available as e-books (and some as just e-books). I don’t really understand the price structure since many e-books are only a couple of dollars cheaper than the printed version, it seems to me that pricing as well as improved e-reader and better file sharing will continue to grow that end of the business at the expense of hard copies. All your entertainment in one easy device.

I loved the noise, speed and smell and of the printing process . . . not to mention the thrill of seeing a finished newspaper coming off the press. Soon that whole process will go the way of the vinyl record and turntable. I enjoy reading news stories and features on my computer, but books and magazines still warm me. . . and a generation from now, newspapers and newspaper stands will be things that kids learn about in history class.