Print, Radio, TV: Apocalypse Now?

This is my fourth response post for blogging class. Enjoy! Comments are welcome as usual.

In CBC Newsworld’s three-part miniseries The End, pop culture specialist Jian Gomeshi investigates the effects the Internet is having on traditional forms of information dissemination. He poses the question: Is this the end of print, radio, and television? This is an interesting question indeed, Gomeshi – one that will require us to keep our attention focused on the changing state of the media to answer.

I had heard of some of the points brought up in the documentary before (e.g. newspapers are losing readership numbers to the web); but others were new to me. For example, The End of Print suggests that among books, newspapers, and magazines, newspapers are struggling the most in the competition with the web. Of the three, I still consider books to be struggling the least, but prior to seeing the documentary I would have predicted a close call between newspapers and magazines.

That was until The End of Print made me consider the significant pressure that online classifieds like Craigslist put on the classified section of the newspaper. “It’s hard to compete when it’s free,” says David Schatsky from Jupiter Research. This is one reason that explains why newspapers are struggling the most with maintaining their audience in the competition with the web.

Still, I personally strongly value reading a print newspaper with my breakfast in the morning. As creatures of habit, we are enculturated to starting off our day with a daily dose of what’s going on. However, when it comes to the future of news dissemination, Jian Gomeshi’s interview with Frank Chindamo – president of Fun Little Movies, a comedy channel specifically for cell phones – in “The End of TV” brings up an interesting point: “You always leave your house with your phone,” he says, elaborating on how he receives news feeds from CNN to his phone. This example demonstrates how the 24 hour news cycle, which has been in existence for quite some time, is now more active than ever. With feeds coming right to our phones, we are constantly being fed up-to-the minute information. So what does this means for the morning print newspaper that we read with our coffee? It is seriously being threatened, but I think it will take a long time for our habit to break.

The changing roles of traditional media are affecting the way we all receive our news. How is it changing the way you receive your news in your day-to-day life?