Why Paper Is Eternal - Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press ...

outside the government where a democratic society could collectively talk to
itself, seek the truth and try to decide what is right. That work, the epitome of a
“public good,” relies on both sides of the institution’s brain, and the reader’s.
Pure news is meaningless without understanding, and true understanding is
impossible without accurate information about the world. The two came
together on paper, which, for a very long time was the best available medium
for sending and receiving both kinds of “messages.” American journalism, the
most vital in the world, grew up on and around paper. It thrived because the
information on those newsprint sheets was stimulating and useful to people,
and there was no more effective way to obtain it. They bought the sheets and
read them avidly, which in turn drew advertisers.
When newspapers first moved to the Internet, it was not obvious that
anything would be lost. The core product was technically the same – same
headlines, same stories and pictures – and the new format was superior in so
many ways. Online newspapers are more timely and interactive than paper
ones, and the digital medium lends itself to many new kinds of content. The
product is cheaper to produce, much easier to deliver and accessible anywhere
there’s an Internet connection. And no trees die in the process. Newspaper
publishers initially decided not to charge for content, expecting – or at least
hoping – that the advantages of the medium would eventually make it as
appealing to subscribers and advertisers as paper had been, and that it would
prove as profitable. It hasn’t been, certainly not in the way that news on paper
has been profitable. This is partly due to the fact that the Internet is full of free
content, and people are understandably reluctant to pay for news that is
available elsewhere for nothing.
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