Is Print Media Dying?

chillibreeze writer — Arshad Rasool

Ever since the first murmurs of electronic media, print media has always felt an undue threat, first from the radio and then from television. And now the Internet is seemingly up against the vast and widely spread print media.

When the radio came in the early 1930s, everybody felt that newspapers would become obsolete. When television came in the 1950s, people and even experts felt that nobody would get the time for or feel the attraction of the written word. But everyone was wrong. Each media has managed to create its own time and space across cultures and around the world. However, the print media too, be it the newspapers or books, has been able to hold its own.

Consider this – the circulation figures of major newspapers around the world have only increased over the years; publishers too come up with a deluge of books and new magazine titles pop up from nowhere everyday. Alternatively, there are thousands of TV channels, even more radio stations, and the infinite Internet. In this deluge of information, where every media is fighting for attention, who wins? Nobody actually. Thanks to the distinct features, the ease of use and the reach of every media, they all have managed to create a specific target audience or readership for themselves. There is a little bit of appeal for everyone in every media.

Information, knowledge, entertainment, fun, and serious business – all these things can be found in every media now. Now it is only left to the audience to choose what suits them. There lies the competition, which nobody has won yet. And nobody might ever win it completely ever.

It’s true we are bombarded by images and sounds from various electronic media, which has shortened our attention spans. This quick deluge of information suits many of us who are hard pressed for time and because of this very few people get the time to read. Everyone wants content in a flash. The Internet has proved to be the most effective media here, where knowledge is literally at your fingertips. You type in what you want, and you get the results in milliseconds – in whatever form you want. There are now online editions of most standard newspapers. This is also the reason you have ebooks now. But how many people have access to the Internet? 10 percent of the population in India and just 8 percent over the world.

Where do the rest of the 90 percent go? They turn to newspapers, the TV or radio. But, it is only a matter of time till the fast-spreading Internet is accessible to the rest of the people and a majority will look to it for most of their needs. So in such a scenario, is it just the print media that is dying? Is it not TV and radio too? Although, it is the print media which seems endangered, it is a fact that the success of any media tells upon another media. It is only a tug of war going among these, where the centre gets oscillated between the ends.

Each has been devising ways to deal with the plus points of the other. TV is getting interactive, radio is getting gripping, newspapers and books are trying to get more attractive with the incorporation of visuals and graphics and interactivity to some extent, and all of them together are going online. Adaptability is crucial for existence. The bottom-line is if the print media continues to adapt to the changing media habits of people and corner its target readers well, it will survive. And it ought to do that for its good. Somehow, there is a feeling that even if it fails in that, the power of the written word will always be supreme.

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Arshad writes for chillibreeze.

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