Most of the undergrad students don't read newspapers nor watch television to access news information; they just hop through the pages of social media or get unmediated news directly from the sources on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
YouTube is about to replace the traditional TV channels, which has forced the broadcasting companies to distribute their content through the social media platforms as well, while talk shows and other programmes have lost their audiences to TikTok.
Internet-Based Media
Online news portals not only provide the latest information to their audiences; they also allow the latter to like, comment, and
share. As they offer news information anywhere, anytime, the traditional media are lagging behind, with no chance of equaling the internet-based media.
While online news portals continuously disseminate news and provide updates on any event, such as natural disasters, political activities, including election results, and sports events, readers must wait until the next day to get updates on events that occurred during the day.And providing the details of the event, about which the audience already has almost all of the information, a day later seems unthinkable, especially in the age of communication, where every second has become a news deadline.
Likewise, newspapers and magazines have space limitations and always carry a limited amount of information, but online news portals resemble a black hole that engulfs anything that comes across it and yet remains hungry.
Complex Production Process
Another limitation of print media is the complexity of the printing, design, and distribution processes.News can be written, edited, and posted online, but for a newspaper, more activities such as designing, plate-making, printing, packaging, and transporting are required.
It means print media need a lot of resources, both economic and human, for their management. For example, a press that prints a broadsheet newspaper costs more than Rs. 70 million. But a news portal can be operated with the help of a couple of computers connected to the internet and a camera.
Similarly, newspapers are highly expensive if compared to the internet. It costs about Rs. 3,600 to subscribe to a newspaper for a year in Nepal, but for about Rs. 12,000, a consumer can read thousands of newspapers, listen to myriad television and radio channels from around the globe, listen to o myriad television and radio channels from around the globe, listen to music, and watch movies on the internet.
So, although the installation cost of the internet is relatively high, in the long run, it’s the cheapest means of communication.
Newspapers mostly present the local or national perspective as their circulation is limited to a small geographical area, while the internet is global and users can get updates about global events, international paradigms, and broader perspectives.
Newspapers survived radio and television, the two mass media that could offer fast and reliable information, but the blow from the internet seems more lethal and difficult to fight against. It was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic period when about half of the newspapers ceased the publication of their print version and completely relied on the online version.
People Love Reading
Good news for newspapers: last year, the Poynter Institute published a study that found that 44 percent of the print audience did not read the digital version of their local newspaper. Many people believe that the news in newspapers is written by real journalists, and they still have faith in the printed word.
Newspapers are more conscious of the fact-checking and rigorous journalistic process to check, cross-check, and verify the information before presenting it to the public.
People are fed with news on the basis of algorithms in social media, which has become the main gateway to the online news platforms, and are likely to get the same information every day, but reading newspapers is a different experience as you can obtain information that is not especially tailored for you.
Another good news for newspapers is that even the young adults have developed a habit of reading newspapers, which is contrary to the earlier prediction that the youth that entered their teens with experience in social media would never turn to the print media.
Some people love the feel of the hard copy, and a kind of bond is created between them. Likewise, although the number of book sales has gone down, there are very few examples of publishing a book in its electronic version only. Except for large encyclopedias, almost all of the books are available in printed form.
Although newspapers have lost their reputation as principal sources of news, they still demand serious attention from their readers. Since they carry a limited number of stories in each edition, readers are more focused and attentive in their reading, while they become more casual as they read the same story online. Moreover, online there are many distractions in the form of advertisements, hyperlinks, pop-ups, and notifications.
For Newspapers
The Rising Nepal is the longest-surviving English broadsheet in Nepal and has greater chances of survival as it is run by the government of Nepal and is one of the main sources of information for many, including the foreigners in Nepal.
Likewise, it can continue its print edition for government offices, diplomatic agencies, and libraries in the countries. During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021, studies in European countries showed that the information, including advertisements, in newspapers provided higher retention power, and people remembered the safety measures about the virus by reading a newspaper.
Meanwhile, newspapers should use long-form writing to keep existing readers interested and to attract the attention of the younger generation to reading.They should provide interpretive and analytical stories on important issues. Developing human interest stories and timely opinions on public issues can be another option to remain competitive in the digital age.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 16 December 2022.
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