At a time when naysayers are writing eternal dirges of print journalism, here comes a new kid on the newspaper block, that too in Britain, where dwindling readership is fast becoming a rule rather than an exception.
New Day, from the publishers of the Daily and Sunday Mirror, is targeted at “readers who no longer buy a paper.” It would be quite a daunting task, for, we now know that The Independent has decided to close its print edition by the end of March 2016; only its online face will remain. Strangely, New Day will not have a website, the paper will just have a social media presence. And it has set an ambitious target of no less than 200,000 copies!
Will print survive in a market dominated by a mobile-first generation that is fed on a staple diet of breaking news? If we go back in time we know that the advent of a new medium does not normally supplant an existing one. On the other, it complements each other. Take radio for instance. The television arrived with the prospect of injecting passive euthanasia to the humble medium of the masses. And we saw the rather painful consignment of the gentle radio from living rooms to attics. But years later the radio took sweet revenge with a graceful resurgence. And it may sound ironic; this resurgence was made possible due in large part to smart phones.
Can we expect a similar resurgence of print in places like Britain? We have to wait and watch the fate of New Day and its ability to lure readers back into print. In countries like India, print will not die at least in the foreseeable future, given the diverse and disparate demography. Inauguration of newspaper editions and opening of mobile app companies will happen side by side here with consummate ease.
No matter how hard the votaries of digital journalism and market pundits bombard us with statistics of dwindling ad revenues and the allure of the online media, the appeal of print still lingers on. Agreed your tablet or smart phone is capable of delivering news as it happens. But nothing compares a print newspaper in your hand. Can your tab entertain you with the heady aroma of a fresh morning newspaper which makes your nostrils dance with primal pleasures? Pit the freshness of a fresh newspaper every morning against the same old drab instrument in your hand. And how many of you are happy reading a long-form journalism piece or a lengthy analysis in your mobile? (Having said that, newspapers should reinvent themselves in order to compete with their digital-era counterparts. They can't sustain for so long selling stale news for long.)
Despite everything, advertising managers still vouch for print, owing to its greater impact. A visually appealing print ad still creates the same impact it used to create a century ago. A compelling print ad still tempts readers in great measure unlike television commercials which are more often treated as nuisances. (Some TV ads are so horrible that the temptation to break the TV set becomes quite irresistible. Thank you the inventor of remote control!).
So print must not die. Call me an old-fashioned tape-recorder; I am a closet print-lover. Pass me the morning paper please.
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