In an informal survey during my daily ride on the Long Island Railroad, I found that for every person reading a newspaper, about eight were fixated on screen devices: smartphones, tablets, notebooks, e-books.
One measure of change in our method of news consumption is the decline in newsprint demand. From 2007 through 2011, the compound annual growth rate for newsprint tonnage dropped 11.7% in North America, according to Resource Information Systems Inc., an information provider for the global forest products industry. RISI predicts that from 2012 to 2014, newsprint demand will slide another 3.2%
The migration of consumers hasn't been lost on the newspaper industry. In chasing readers, editors and publishers have responded by shifting resources from print to pixels.
"Newspapers are distributing content though a variety of digital platforms -- whether interactive mobile apps, replica editions, pay-walled websites or e-reader editions," says Mike Lavery, president and managing director of the Alliance for Audited Media. As of last spring, "these digital editions account for nearly 20% of U.S. newspapers' daily total average circulation, up approximately 5% each year.
When the Alliance releases its next semi-annual report on the top 25 U.S. daily newspapers on Oct. 31, Lavery predicts, "We expect to see digital editions continue to be a growing part of newspapers' total distribution."
There once were obvious advantages to carrying a newspaper. To start, there was its portability. That changed with the onslaught of mobile devices. Then, there was resolution. No consumer-type screen packed as many dots as a commercially-printed page. But then Apple shipped an iPad with a screen commanding a higher resolution than glossy magazines.
One t! hing that affords the newspaper reader a glimmer of smugness is the sweep of information gleaned at once. With the diagonal on most smartphones coming in at under 4-inches, users are forced to sip information through a straw. Compare this to the 32.5-inch diagonal across facing pages of a typical broadsheet. With arms extended, there's the luxury of exploration from a wide expanse and the serendipity of your eyes alighting on an interesting article or image. In the case of a smartphone, that discovery may not be possible until you drill down. And yet, younger people in particular don't seem to mind navigating through a mail-slot.
Then, there's the attention-span factor. Reading a paper is like holding blinders (another benefit of a broadsheet) in a world awash in multimedia enticements. For those who have trouble concentrating, there's nothing like the single-mindedness of a newspaper. Anyone with Attention Deficit Disorder would do well to avoid the 1,001 distractions offered on mobile devices. When I wrap my head in the paper, I come armed with a pen to circle a quote, underline a name, highlight an unfamiliar term and write notes in the margins. Where others see white space, I see opportunity. A newspaper is made for interactivity.
Tablets do have inherent advantages: no bleed-through from the opposite side of the page, less chance of the words being set afire by a restaurant's table candle, and the ability to read under the covers. Also, news delivered through a connected screen is potentially more up-to-date. Digital news never waits to be printed, collated, loaded on a truck, transported to a vendor, thrown from a bicycle or dropped on a doorstep. Also, once the reader is done with an issue, there's no need to add it to a pile, wait for it to fall over, tie issues together and carry out the bundle for recycling. Just thinking about all that work makes me sweat.
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For a few more! years at! least, print and digital will coexist. The slogan on delivery trucks at the paper in North Jersey where I first worked was "Friend of the People It Serves." It may as well have morphed a decade ago into "Friend of the People Who Surf." But even that tagline now seems dated as dedicated apps usurp general browsers and handheld devices replace desktop computers. So, in the interest of preserving choice for those who still thrill to the smell of print versus those who embrace the habit of peering deeply into a Lilliputian screen, we offer the accompanying matrix.
New York-based writer/editor Michael Antonoff covers technology and the media.
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