Evolution of Print Dinosaurs

There's been a lot of thought, talk and controversy since I started studying journalism about the future of news, particularly newspapers.

No one seems quite sure what the future holds for newspapers and whether they can survive the internet news revolution we're experiencing at the moment.

This has led me to ask whether in joining the print arm of journalism, I have consigned myself to some sort of dinosaurs graveyard for fleet street hacks. However, always the optimist, I haven't spent too long beating myself up about this.

The reason I'm not too worried is that I think it's unlikely people will ever stop reading. If there are people reading about news and current affairs, then it follows that there will also be writers. Whether the writing hits paper or a computer screen seems less important.

I am obviously biased, I've chosen a career based on the idea that people will pay money to read what journalists have to say. But, a quick look at the world around us seems to back up the fact that reading is still a part of regular daily life.

People use email to communicate at work, write reports, buy books or magazines. It's easy to take a quick look at an online news site when the boss' head is turned. Whether it's for work or entertainment the written word is still very much alive among us. And if that's the case, then how can print journalism be dead?

Online news seems to be a medium well suited to those people who entered journalism because they want to write. And what's more, online news is exciting and fast moving, new stories are posted as soon as they break. You have all the benefits of broadcast platforms conveyed in written format.

The language of online news also has to be catchy, tight and concise or you've lost your reader/scanner to the next page. So the medium is also asking writers to innovate and consider how they use language - never a bad thing.

The possibility of overlapping mediums is also really exciting, video journalism is quickly becoming a part of most online news sites. Those months of agonising about whether to sudy print or broadcast journalism seem completely unnecessary in hindsight. Convergent media platforms now mean I'll probably get the chance to do both.

The media is generally improved by taking the best bits of different mediums and using them to compliment each other. Can we imagine journalism without photos or the latest pop song without a glitzy video.

So it seems that written online news definitely has a future. But there is a more specific question in the print debate about whether newspapers will survive?

This is a tricky one. Michael Kinsley makes an interesting point in Time magazine, in an article entitled 'Do Newspaper Have a Future?':

"The fact that people won't pay for news on the Internet isn't as devastating for the old medium as it seems. People don't pay for the news in traditional newspapers: they pay for the paper, which typically costs the company more than it charges for the finished product. So in theory, giving away the news without the paper looks like a good deal for newspapers, if they can keep the advertising."

The argument actually seems to revolve around where the advertising pound is spent and from there the format will follow. Journalism is after all a business at heart. So the future of newspapers may well depend on the decisions of advertising boardrooms over the next few years.

It is possible that newspapers will not survive for the indefinite future. This does not however mean that print journalism is finished. The written word lends itself equally well to other platforms and the opportunity to embrace new technology should always be an exciting one.

I don't really mind whether a story I write ends up on paper, the web or any where else, as long as I'm giving the chance to research and write that story in the first place. What's more if I'm offered training in video journalism or other multimedia platforms, you'll find me jumping at the chance. It all offers the opportunity to use different techniques to creatively express ideas.

It's understandable that journalists are evaluating the future of their industry at the moment. Any period of rapid change brings about questions and insecurity. However, the early 21st century seems like an exciting time to be entering the world of journalism. And if newspapers are eventually consigned to the annuls of history, at least we'll be able to say we were there for some of it.