Stop the presses
The transition from paper to pixels will bring good news
BY Max Fawcett
Illustration by raymond biesinger
September 19, 2007, may one day join November 9, 1989, as a day that marked the end of an era of repression, separation, and misery, and the beginning of one defined by freedom, unity and hope. Okay, it probably won’t go down in history alongside the fall of that other famous wall, but the recent removal of the New York Times’ subscriber wall, which used to restrict online access to the paper’s archives and the work of its columnists to those who would pay the $7.95 monthly/$49.95 annual fee, is still an important cultural moment. As the recognized industry leader, the New York Times’ daring lead will surely, if slowly, be followed by other newspapers across the Western world, as demonstrated by the Wall Street Journal’s recent promise to provide more free content in response to the Times. Eventually, even our particularly lethargic Canadian dailies will have to come to terms with the realities, financial and otherwise, created by this new approach
The New York Times may lead to more changes by breaking the industry of its junkie-like addiction to paper. Publisher, owner and chair Arthur Sulzberger recently hinted at the speed at which this change could come, musing, “I really don’t know whether we’ll be printing the Times in five years, and you know what? I don’t care either.” But whether the physical product stays or goes, the fact remains that for the news business the internetis here to stay. The only people who won’t benefit from these changes are bibliophiles, environmental grinches and people with newsprint fetishes. Everyone else—readers, writers, publishers, editors and advertisers—will profit, both literally and figuratively, from the new model.
Likewise, with these changes comes a substantial improvement in the long-term prospects of the newspaper industry. While the internet may have eliminated the monopoly that newspapers previously enjoyed on the formation and expression of leading opinions, it has in no way diminished the demand for those opinions. If anything, the growing cacophony of voices on the internet, be they in the form of blogs, newsgroups, social networking tools or other, as-yet-unseen incarnations of internet technology, will enhance the intellectual harmony that newspapers provide.
Similarly, freedom from the press—the printing press, that is—should end the decades-old trend of newspapers cutting editorial staff, whether they’re local beat reporters, foreign deskers or opinion columnists. With the emphasis on delivering content instead of copies, newspapers intent on competing will have no choice but to increase the range of voices, the depth of their contributions and the frequency of their filings. Likewise, digitally located content will not be constrained by the limitations of broadsheet paper, allowing for longer pieces, more in-depth reportage and a general increase in the quality, and quantity, of news coverage. From related documents and source materials to sound and video clips, the internet allows journalists to create more textured and effectively referenced material. It may take some time, particularly in Canada’s more conservative media culture, but the internet should facilitate the first significant increase in the quality of news reportage in this country in a very long time.
The transition from print to digital content will not happen overnight, and it won’t be without its difficulties. There will be those writers who will whinge about the new challenges posed by online journalism, be it the increased interactivity with readers, the possibility of periodic competition with the dreaded “blogosphere” or merely the hardship of maintaining an email address. Editors and publishers will, one hopes, eventually have to address the fact that the online content that increasingly drives their bottom lines isn’t rewarded financially at the same rate as “traditional” contributions. Some readers—older ones, mostly—will complain about the move from paper to pixels. But for the overwhelming majority of us, these changes are all to the good. There was a time when many people thought that the arrival of the internet would mean the death of the newspaper as we know it. Instead, it looks as though it could lead to its reincarnation.
