Killing Trees
New media maven Jason Calcanis has a question: "Is it wrong to subscribe to the print edition of the New York Times if I have high-speed web access all day long?"
This is something that lots of newspaper readers are thinking about lately, I'd guess. And it puts newspapers in the uncomfortable position of creating a product that people feel bad about buying -- not a good business model. Should newspaper companies try to make people feel better about buying papers? How would they do that? Or should they just kill off (or massively scale back) print as some expect will happen within a decade or so?
posted by C. Max Magee @ 5:47 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
C. Max so glad you posted this fizzling blog....
One of the commenters on the blog you linked made a good point: what about the energy, etc. we use running our computers? Maybe the paper and fuel are negligable? And the other comment about how our reading habits only account for a few of the trees a year?
No, I didn't check my facts, so feel free to call me out, but it does seem like it could be negligable. And I am assuming we are all recycling the newspapers, too.
Worth considering though. I just get the Sunday Times, but I also work for a free daily that no doubt is adding to the newspaper waste.
So what are your thoughts on it Max?
Here's my vision for the future:
I think online will be the main source for news of all kinds. It will be how people figure out what's going on in the world. But there will always be demand for paper so people have something to read when they go get a cup of coffee or ride the train.
I think print should go to tabloid size and be more about summarizing, making sense of, and providing context for the previous days events. They should be lean, mean little items, and interesting to read... like Red Eye with a little more intellectual meat on the bones.
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