Helping to Make the Transition from Newspaper to Internet News Reader

It's clear now. A most compelling characteristic that separates the current generation from past ones is not tattoos or Twitter, it's whether or not you read a daily newspaper. If you're from the WW II, Silent, Boomer or GenX generations, your daily ritual probably includes a cup of joe, a comfortable sit and a morning paper which means, like rabbit-ears TV and the paper-boy, your time is coming to an end. We know this because of the eminent demise of newspapers that newspaper readers keep reading about in their eminently demising newspapers. This is not a self-fulfilling prophecy, it's reality and it bites.

If you grew up with the Internet, you're in the Millennial generational orbit and reading a daily newspaper is simply not on your to-do list. Like your immigrant ancestors, whose American first-born kids shepherded them into a baffling foreign world, you are leading your elders into a mystifying hard-drive world because, well, because you can. Your elders are analog immigrants in a digital land and you're the guide.

Pre-Millennials are currently in a no-fly zone between paper and digitally delivered news which puts ink-based media owners in a tizzy - much like movie-theater owners were when TV came along and they had to figure out how to get people to pay for a product they were getting at home for free. Owners seem to be waiting for some magical tipping point when we will actually pay for Internet news. Here's a headline: We've Tipped! A recent Zogby poll asked people if they had to choose to get their news from just one source, 56 percent said they preferred the Internet while 16 percent would choose a newspaper. That's a tip. Start charging!

Some pre-Mills have seen the writing on the wall, uh, screen, and have tried to adapt, wean themselves off newspapers and go on-line for their news. It's not easy, is it? Some habits get hard-wired into our beings. But the transition away from newspapers is inevitable. Soon enough, some post-Kindle device will come on the market that's lightweight, colorful, larger than a 9.7" screen and smaller than a daily broadsheet paper. Pre-Mills face a difficult decision: start doing Internet news now or wait until you don't have a choice.

When faced with this kind of product choice, we consumers like to look at pros and cons of each offering. Therefore, as a public service, here is a shopping comparison between two competing news products for pre-Mills to consider. . .

NEWSPAPERS: THE PROS

• Agreeable settings - comfortable chair, scrunched on a couch, laying on a beach, riding a stationary bike, standing in a train or bus
• Scans easily for stories and ads
• Reassuring day-starting ritual
• Head-cover for sudden downpour
• Flooring for housebreaking puppies
• Good packing material for breakables
• Unread sections useful as a drink coaster
• Good spy cover-up when following somebody
• Wrapping fish-and-chips - in England
• Helpful lighting fireplaces
• Rolled up for fly swatting
• Useful for clipping coupons, photos and tidbits for refrigerator doors or bulletin boards
• Cheap party hats, if you know how to fold it

NEWSPAPERS: THE CONS

• Subscription or newsstand cost - rising
• Inky fingers - particularly The New York Times
• Poor broadsheet manageability in the wind
• Broadsheet fold-ability in tight spaces
• Piled-up home clutter
• Never ending waste disposal issue
• De-forestation
• Holiday tips for paper-deliverers
• Invitiation to a burglar if paper delivery is not picked up

INTERNET NEWS: THE PROS

• Infinitely more content with three-to-seven days of previous days' news
• Instantaneous updates
• Links to other places to broaden understanding
• Video and audio pieces
• Ease of search for stories and people in the news
• No waste disposal issues
• Readability in wind
• More colorful and better graphics
• Easy to email articles to others
• Adjustable font size for easier reading
• Unlimited access to most all domestic and foreign news
• Most news content is currently free

INTERNET NEWS: THE CONS

• Hardware costs - computer, smart phone, hand- held devices
• Hard to read with small handhelds
• WiFi accessibility and costs
• Uncomfortable settings - without a laptop, you have to sit at a desk
• Device freeze-up
• Batteriy life, thus time limitations
• News not available for reading on airplanes

BOTTOM LINE: Your choice, pre-Mills. For breadth and depth of content, Internet delivered news cannot be beat. For ritual dependability, newspapers are very grounding and comforting. Is it time to start making the transition off newspapers to the inevitable Internet?

Comments

[WestCoastBuckeye]

GenX here (is that what 32 is?), and, unless there's a paper lying around at the coffee shop, I never bother with newspapers. My attitude toward print can be considered blasphemy: I worked as an editor or reporter in newspapers for almost half my life.

Today I get ALL my news online, and I don't pay for a lick of it. Refuse to. Never will. Those who "grew up with the Internet" don't pay for news. Once they have an Internet connection, they don't pay for a lot of things that previous generations paid for (information, music, porn, long distance calls, maps, classifieds, etc.).

Alderman suggests currently free online news sources should "start charging," but he does so ignoring the mentality of his younger "guides" in this digital world. The second you try charging them for something that was free, they go elsewhere. Any news outlet that charges online, instead of relying on ad impressions, is doomed. Not because they're not offering a worthwhile service, but because they're operating in an environment where "free" is already king. What's the saying about closing the barn door after the horses are out?

The only thing keeping newspapers alive is portability. That's it. They've had a wonderful place in society, but their days are numbered.

[WorkingClass]

I'm 65 years old. I quit the daily paper when home delivery stopped. They couldn't find kids dumb enough to ply the streets of my neighborhood. To dangerous. I quit television when I realized the "news" was only lies and propaganda. You have to learn how to find it, but the actual truth is available on the internet. If you are getting your news from print and/or television you don't know whats going on.

[kejia]

I agree that sooner or later the "free lunch" is going to end, and I hope it ends intelligently. I read my news online,but I cannot imagine paying for a single newspaper online. I don't read by newspaper but by content, so I skip between various news sources. The value of a single news source is not that great.

Hence, what I can imagine paying for would be a "news bundle" that is analogous to cable tv. I would be willing to pay a monthly fee for access to most of the major news media. And Huffington Post would be the first stop on my browser, with or without a charge.

[Cleanerman]

I adore the internet for news. I have extremely good reason--especially, as I am a baby boomer. I am a liberal who lives in a conservative city with a pitiful newspaper. The internet has saved my sanity. I can read from all perspectives online (conservative to liberal) and focus, as I prefer, for the "liberal bent" that I personally relate to.

[larry278]

There is 1 thing that Tom Alderman didn't mention. Regardless of your age, if you have access to a computer for your personal use, you aren't going to use a newspaper again. I get the news that's important to me on the web. I get it quickly.
As for community news, I get what interests me on the web. I live in a 1 paper town; the Trib owns it. That means that I get more community information on the web than the local paper deigns to print. I've lived in some 1 paper towns. Most of the papers in 1 paper towns are much worse than lousy. I know of 1 exception to that rule-The Fayetteville [NC] Observer. People from Lexington, Ky tell me that the formerly worse than lousy Lexington paper has improved greatly with a change of ownership. That's to the good for Gannett now owns the Louisville Courier-Journal & turned it into a Gannett paper. The C-J is now far, far, worse than lousy. The C-J used to be a good, reliable paper, but not now.

[dedepotts]

I have seen Fortune's online articles that they did with Flyp Media and wonder if this could be the merging of "comfort" with "breadth". The ideas are fascinating to be sure - www.flypmedia.com. What do you think?

[llisa]

So, what about those of us who get most of our news from the Internet, but have to read the local newspaper to get the local news (because we live in small towns and that's the only place we can find out about the library budget or the local festival activities)? Skimming the local newspaper takes all of 5 minutes, but it is still necessary if I want to stay abreast of community news.

I'm a Boomer. But, no matter your generation--if you live in a small town, you probably cannot get all your community news from the Internet.