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Mar

16

How to Save Newspapers

Filed Under Internet, Video Blogs | 11 Comments


Stop the Presses: How to Save Newspapers by Ted Rall and David Essman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7qd8v8v2qk
I saw this video via the Comics Reporter.

The video is funny, but the subject matter not so much. The fate of newspapers is pretty grim. We don’t feel it yet here in the Philippines, but technologically advanced countries like the US do. Newspapers have closed, and creative people are getting laid off slowly but surely. Some publications have gone web-only.

But HOLD THE PRESSES! I think I may have a solution! Oh ho yes, I do!

What if, in the future, print newspapers become completely “print on demand”? Newspaper dispensers in the street wouldn’t contain newspapers but a printer and a whole lotta paper. If someone wants a print version of the newspaper, they can just get one from the dispenser.

BUT HERE’S WHAT’S INTERESTING!

The dispenser/printer prints only the most up to date news, depending on what time of day you buy the newspaper. Let’s say there’s a developing story, like an Election where results are coming in all day. You buy a newspaper at 10am and you get the results that are currently available at 10am. When you buy the newspaper at 3pm, you get the results that are currently available at 3pm.

Feature articles, reviews,cartoons, editorials, etc. get a maximum life of like 24 hours before being replaced, but news change minute by minute, second by second.

The newspaper you get may well be different from the newspaper the guy ahead in line got just a few seconds before!

In this setup, only those who want print will get theirs in print, while those who want to read it online can still continue to read it online.

Hey, you heard it here first!!

Comments

11 Responses to “How to Save Newspapers”

  1. Ed on March 16th, 2010 9:27 pm

    Hey, I also thought of that IDEA! Di ko lang na-blog kasi tamad ako magtype. :P

    What if nag-paper jam ang printer? Or kinain lang ang coin? or naubos ang ink? Wait, carbon base paper ba? Full-color ang print? Optional ba kung B&W or Color? Meron bang option na Bluetooth Send for iPhone or smart phones or laptop/PDA? or forward via email? Remote print sa 24/7 na naka-ONLINE na computer? Copy sa USB Flash drives and MMCs/SDCards? :P

    Daming tanong no? Hehe.

  2. Luis Katigbak on March 16th, 2010 11:15 pm

    Great idea, Gerry! :) Maybe something like this could work with magazines too…

    As someone who loves anniversary issues and special issues and the like, however, I would love it if such a device would let you print an issue from whatever date you want.

    Like the default time/date is [NOW], but you could choose to key in 2010-01-01 (plus time) if you wanted a copy of the New Year’s Day issue, for example. :)

  3. Gerry Alanguilan on March 17th, 2010 8:04 am

    Hello Ed!

    Yes, meron pa ring office ang newspaper somewhere na nangongolekta at nagle-layout ng news sa computer. Kahit papano may editorial offices pa rin sila na may staff. They still have to put out the online edition diba? So siguro meron silang separate section sa office for the data that gets sent, via internet, into the dispenser/printer. Pag nag jam… para sigurong ATM. Sarado muna while waiting for people to fix it.

  4. Carlo P on March 17th, 2010 12:17 pm

    Thing is epaper (ala Harry Potter newspapers) is under development…

    dispensers could go as insert a coin then machine wirelessly transmits current issue… at until di nasisira or nawawla, isang ePaper lang gagamitin

  5. Carlo P on March 17th, 2010 12:19 pm

    ay oo nga pala… parang ebook readers ng amazon.

  6. Jose Mari Lee on March 18th, 2010 11:53 am

    “ay oo nga pala… parang ebook readers ng amazon.”

    Yung experimento ng ebook ni Stephen King was a dismal failure. Ewan ko ba, pero parang iba talaga yung nahahawakan ang libro. The newspapers in North America and Europe are indeed waning, especially the mainstream ones. What’s thriving are the ethnic ones. Maybe the reason is advertisers of these papers have a definite target to sell their products and/or services. But, what’s puzzling is: the magazines are getting bigger.

    The public so far is sending conflicting signals and until something surfaces clearly that everybody will embrace without ifs and buts, then that would be the only time we’ll know for sure. As of now, we’re all sitting on the fence.

  7. auggie on March 18th, 2010 4:52 pm

    JM,

    The magazines are getting bigger? bakit nag shrink yung ROLLING STONE?

  8. Jose Mari Lee on March 19th, 2010 8:53 am

    “bakit nag shrink yung ROLLING STONE?”

    What do you mean?

    Yung binanggit ko ay yung mga magazines na naglalabasan dito na iba-iba. Mags such as Elle, US, Hello, and so on. This mags are geared towards the younger set. Rolling Stone can be considered amongst the mainstream ones whose readers are the baby boomers. With many baby boomers now aging, they don’t seem to care for the older magazines anymore. Many are not interested in the internet either.

    :)

  9. Fermin Salvador on March 19th, 2010 8:57 am

    auggie,

    Mas gusto ko yung current format ng Rolling Stone dahil mas matipid sa space especially mas habol kong article ay sa mga aging rockers and plainly about rock music na minority na lang ngayon sa music industry. Parang ang komiks sa publishing industry. Marginalized pero rock!

    Speaking of newspapers, talagang bagsak presyo. Imagine ang Chicago Tribune ay may subcription offer na $1 per week. Kasi pag nag-deliver ng copy sa isang bahay yung delivery sa 20 other homes in the same block ay immediate profit na. Subscription system ang #1 means of distribution sa US ng lahat ng commercial reading materials. If you will subscribe in advance (1 year or more) you will just have to pay half or less of its shelf price. This way nakaka-attract sila ng millions of subscribers who will have to pay their subscription in advance.

    Example ang Rolling Stone magazine. May millions of paid subscribers na sila for 1 year issues at extra profits na lang ang mga bibili sa stores. Would you believe na itinatag ito noong 60s ng isang music loving teen-ager na may $20 capital?

  10. WU on March 21st, 2010 11:52 am

    Newspaper companies don’t make money selling newspapers. The bread and butter of newspaper companies are in the ads – classifieds and advertising material. The reason why newspapers are going down is because advertising in the internet is much cheaper than newspapers and you get a wider audience.

  11. Auggie on March 22nd, 2010 10:54 pm

    JM,FERMIN,

    Yes, tama, ang dami na ngang magazines ngayon geared towards the young. Rolling Stone, is for GEZEERS. But I still buy kung CLASSIC ROCKERS ang features. Pero nagtipid sila sa papel.
    Yeah Jan Wenner hit paydirt when he published Rolling Stone in the late 60s. There was one Asian writer in his editorial staff: BEN-FONG TORRES.