[Student’s Date]
Abstract
In the recent past, there has been a tremendous decline in the use of the newspapers. The trend seems to be accelerating everyday and it is estimated that the use of the newspapers could hit a decline in 50% in the year 2020 as compared to its use in the 1990s. Many factors have been associated with the decline of the preference and the use of the printed papers. Among the most significant one is the latest developments in technology that has brought the introduction of Internet accessible to over one billion people across the globe. The larger platform, the ease of the access, the affordability and the fast information transformation in the Internet has made many information providers to opt for that option (Ahn, 2011).
The manuscript will evaluate the significance of researching about the decline of the newspapers. In the light of this, we will explore the significance of the newspapers in the social-economic aspects of the people in the society. We will review the impacts of the newspaper decline to the community. In doing so, we will rely heavily on the documented researches on the topic. Internet sources will be highly used.
The paper will analyze and report on the recent research findings concerning the topic. W e will explain the main causes of the decline in the newspaper in the recent past and its implication on the people`s lives. The paper will critically review the controversies that surround the issue of the declining of the newspapers. We will illustrate the differing points of view related to the decline of the newspaper and the potential existence of arriving at a consensus. Finally, conclusions will be drawn based on the findings.
Introduction
Since inception people used to utilize one or the other media sources in order to communicate with each other and even to provide the basic source of news to one another. However, media gain its strong position with the introduction of the newspapers, since it was easy to provide information to a huge mass in a convenient way. As a result, newspapers became popular amongst the people. It became a part and parcel of their daily habit routine.
Today, we can find that, there are several newspapers available in different languages so that people can read the news in their native language. In addition, even the newspaper media sources have introduced various columns and supplements in order to provide extra knowledge to the people. But, with the introduction of social media such as Facebook and Twitter, it has become much easier to spread the news and information across the globe. It hardly takes fraction of seconds to post a tweet on the Twitter, and the entire world will come to know about it. This has been the most effective media resource till date, and hence, this could be one of the major reasons of the fall of the newspaper era.
The decline of the newspapers has been significantly pronounced in the recent past. The decline is alarming and the views that surround the trend are faced with mixed reactions and controversies. However, majority of the people seem to agree that the decline is largely attributed to the recent technological development in the communication sector, specifically the introduction of the Internet (Ahn, 2011).
The introduction of the Internet has provided a cheap, reliable, fast and a broader communication platform where information is passed. The availability and the accessibility of the Internet cover around one billion people in the globe. The fact that it is accessible through portable communication devices like mobile phones, tablets and iPads makes it the most reliable and available to most of the people in the World.
The Internet has enabled creation of the social media platforms where all kinds of information are shared. The information ranges from personal issues, religious views and posts, political developments as well as family issues. The social media platform is a home to over one billion people in the globe today. The purposes of the newspaper have been replaced to the use of the Internet. Previously, newspapers were used to pass business news, discuss politics, advertising and to give sports news. The newspapers were limited to the regions within which they covered owing to the translocation aspect of the bulk printed materials. The bulkiness and the transport means limited the region and the time for the newspaper to reach its users. The production cost of the paper was also costly (Andrejevic, 2005).
The cost of production coupled with the transport cost made the newspapers to be expensive. With the coming of the Internet, all the problems have been eradicated. The cost of printing and the printing paper is eliminated. The transport cost of the bulk printed papers has been eliminated with the online information transfer. The issue about the time taken to transport the newspaper to the customers that limited the region within which the printers could supply their newspaper has been eliminated by the Internet. Owing to all these factors, the producers would opt for the online data transformation. The customers who used the newspapers previously have opted for the Internet use owing to its affordability, accessibility and its speed.
The marketers and the advertisers have opted for the Internet owing to the vast region that it can cover the many people that will be reached by the Internet, the speed of the data transformation and its affordability. The Internet also gives a chance for the producer to interact with the client and give feedback information that could be used to the advantage of the producer (Andrejevic, 2005). The paper will seek to establish the existence of the decline in the use of the newspaper. The review will highlight the relevant research findings concerning the recent decrease of the newspapers and the causes of the decline and the future of the newspapers.
Uses of the Newspaper
The uses of the newspapers are many. Generally, it is used to pass information to the readers/the society. The kind of the information that is contained in the newspapers varies depending on the intended readers. Generally, there is information that is common to almost all the newspapers. The newspapers contain sections that deal with:
Business news
Sports news
Politics
International news
Weather
Informative interactive forums
Family and health issues
Social issues and obituaries’
Advertisement and marketing
Fashions and designs
Entertainment
Motivation forums
Astrology
Research journals
Government reports
Jobs and tenders
Newspapers are printed on papers by the printing press that may sell directly to the customers directly by the printing press through the dealers or the printing dealers may hire the services of the third parties as subsidiaries. The newspapers are produced on daily basis to keep in touch with the daily occurrences to keep the customers on the current trends in the social happenings in the society.
The papers are printed in bulk and distributed to the clients. The distribution channels are very critical in the sales and the worth of the newspaper. Late deliveries of the newspapers to the customers make the newspaper lose its value in terms of the news intended to be delivered. A late delivery renders the news delivered to be stale and unreliable to the customers (Beer, 2008). The distribution of the newspaper is its sole driving force in the market. Any other information transformation media that can overcome the problem will render the production and the use of the newspapers to decline significantly.
The type of the information that is passed in the newspaper sometimes guides the production of the newspapers. Some papers are produced periodically, weekly, monthly or sometimes yearly depending on the intended message. Business news are produced weekly in the weekly business newspaper owing to the weight of the information intended to be passed.
The information need to be analyzed and the changes in the consumer trends observed to provide reliable information for the business people. Other papers like the scientific research journals are produced periodically and report the findings and the development in the researches. Government reports, Company developments and the annual reports are reported at the end of the financial years or quarterly as would be directed by the Government regulations.
Limitations of the newspapers
The newspaper industry was a blossoming industry in the past but its use is declining significantly as a means of passing information. Owing to the limitations of the newspapers, any media of information/communication that can significantly solve the problems would be the most preferred method as compared to the newspaper (Beer, 2008). In this respect, we will highlight the main challenges faced by the newspaper industry. We will further show how Internet communication has stepped in to resolve the arising problems.
Distribution Channels
Distribution channels of the newspaper play a critical role for the thriving of the industry. For the daily newspapers, the validity and the value of the news delivered by the paper is time limited. The paper is supposed to reach the readers in a timely manner, a thing that brings many challenges in construction of the distribution channels. The challenges are further aggravated due to the transport means and modes available for the transportation. Owing to the factors, much cost is spent in the transport sector that adds to the pricing of the paper. The limitation in the transport also affects the geographical distribution of the newspaper.
All the challenges entailing the distribution channels have been eliminated by the introduction of the Internet in the communication industry. In transmitting the information in the Internet, one does not need to rely on mechanical means of transport that are prone to risks and failures. The errors and the risks propagated by the human failure are eliminated (Dourish & Anderson, 2006).
The producer relies on the already established network to transmit the information. Timely deliverance is enabled as the delivery in the Internet is super swift. Owing to these factors, the Internet has been embraced greatly, both by the producers of the newspapers and the customers. The move has rendered into the decline of the newspapers in the information/communication industry
Cost
In any business venture, the aim of operation is to make a profit. Profits are maximized by reduction of the production cost. The production cost is the factor that is considered in the pricing of the goods and the services. When the production cost is high, the prices of the commodities would be placed high to make a profit. Some prices could make a commodity unaffordable by some people in the society depending on their level of income. This would make the product to be purchased by only a class of the people in the community. The result of this is that low units are sold. The selling of low units translates to low productions. The low production increases the cost f production per unit as compared to bulk production.
Production of the newspapers is very costly. From purchasing the printing papers, maintaining the printing plant and the labor required to run the plant. The costs are further increased by the transport of the bulk newspaper products to the customers. The unsold newspapers are of less value than the unprinted printing papers (Heath & Heath, 2007). The unsold papers are recycled at an extra cost and can be calculated as a loss to the printing press.
The development of the technology that brought electronic file transfers has stepped in to curb this problem. In the electronic files, only one copy of the paper need to be typed in the electronic storage machines like the computers. From this one copy, many copies can be replicated very fast at almost zero costs. This eliminates the cost of maintaining a printing plant and the labor required to do the same.
The cost associated with the transport of the bulk papers to the consumers is decreased by almost 99%. The only applicable transport costs are the cost of the Internet connection that amounts to cents per minute. The transfer is very swift and can reach millions of people in seconds. Owing to these aspects of online data transfer, Internet platform has been embraced greatly in the communication sector. The producers can greatly make profits owing to the cut costs of the production and in the labor. The drag times associated with human labor have been removed by the online platform.
The consumers of the newspapers have embraced the online data system due to its reliability and the timely delivery. The pricing of the online newspapers is very enticing to the consumers and hence the most economical for them. Due to the fast transmission speed, it has enabled the validity and the relevance of the news communicated through the online means.
When a spectacular phenomenon happens and somebody places on the social media online platform, it takes minutes to have reached almost everybody who is a subscriber to the newsfeed. Owing to the aforementioned factors of the Internet communication, it has currently taken the place of the printed newspaper, a thing that has significantly reduced the preference of the newspapers by the customers (Nissenbaum, 2010).
Market Reach
The market share determines the prosperity of the newspaper industry. The larger the market share, the more the sales that translates to increase in the profits. In production industry, the marketer needs to target the larger of the market to make more profits. The product must be able to reach the desired market in a timely manner to ensure customer retention, satisfaction and loyalty (Nissenbaum, 2010). Owing to the bulkiness of the newspapers, they require manual transport means to reach to their desired market.
The delicacy of the news dictates the delivery time. The ability to deliver the newspaper in a convenient timely manner to the clients has hindered the market segment in the industry. The papers are distributed in a narrow geographical region where the speed and the ease of the manual means of transport can ensure the timely delivery of the newspapers. The effect of this narrows the market share of the printing press. This translates to low sales and less returns (Beer, 2008).
The online delivery of the electronic paper does not rely on the speed of the manual means of transport by the servers speed. Approximately, the time the satellite uses to process the information, relay it onto the servers and get it to the online user is nine seconds. The implication of this is that, information can revolve around the globe in nine seconds. The online newspaper is available to all online customers who are currently approximate to be over one billion people. Thus, the Internet has replaced the printed newspaper as a way of passing information.
Convenience
Printed newspapers are bulk, a thing that gives the consumers many troubles in carrying the papers. Owing to the bulkiness of the papers, they require large storing places for future references that may not be available in the offices or at home. The retrieval of the printed papers is a tedious manual process that is time and money consuming. With the online newspapers, all these drawbacks are eliminated.
The newspaper is readily accessible through the online portal as long as one is connected to the Internet. Storage of the online newspaper does not require large office place. It is already available on the online portal. Alternatively, one can save the paper in digital form in his personal or company digital device.
Conclusion
There has been a tremendous decrease in the newspapers in the recent past and the trend is estimated to continue in the future. The use of the newspapers as a means of information/communication transformation has been faced with many drawbacks. Among the key drawbacks that the industry has been facing is the production cost. The high production cost has rendered the pricing of the papers to be affordable to certain class of the people. The second draw back has been in the distribution channels. Owing to the bulkiness of the paper and the delicacy of the information, it is required to reach to the consumers in timely manner.
The market reach is affected by the distribution channels and make the printing company cover a small geographical region. The customer convenience is also at stake in the printed newspaper. Owing to the bulkiness of the paper, it is tiresome to carry around and requires large storage spaces. The ease of access in the future is tedious and time consuming. These entire drawbacks have been eliminated in the online data transformation. The Internet has provided a much better platform for communication and has been embraced by the producers and the customers. Because of this, the online channel has replaced the printed newspapers in the communication/information industry.
References
Ahn, Y. (2011). Digital divides and social network sites: Which students participate in social media? Journal of Educational Computing Research, 45(2), 147-163.
Andrejevic, M. (2005). The work of watching one another: Lateral surveillance, risk and governance. Surveillance & Society, 2 (4), 479-497.
Beer, D. D. (2008). Social network (ing) sitesrevisiting the story so far: A response to danahboyd & Nicole Ellison. Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication, 13(2), 516-529.
Dourish, P., & Anderson, K. (2006). Collective information practice: exploring privacy and security as social and cultural phenomena. Human-computer interaction, 21(3), 319-342.
Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2007). Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. New York: Random House.
Nissenbaum, H. (2010). Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
