By Amanda Clark
There has been much talk about the death of newspapers, but does the public really understand the effects that would have on our world? Nowadays, we have become used to going to the Internet or TV for a quick update on the world around us. People are constantly sharing articles, and TV hosts like John Oliver and Trevor Noah make jokes about the political, social, or cultural climate of our world. News seems so much easier accessible than when we paid for a newspaper that showed up on our doorstep every morning.
The Media Food Chain
The truth of the matter is, newspapers are closing, and that creates a host of problems for ALL of us. The media is a food chain that goes a little something like this:
Newspapers feed the media we so easily and hungrily consume. If we pay close attention, we will notice that many of the articles shared on social media, posted on various websites, and joked about by our favorite late night hosts cite newspapers as the original source of the information. Why? Because newspapers have dedicated journalists that have the time and energy to thoroughly investigate and report on pivotal news.
Digital Demands of Journalism
Journalists writing for online news sites have increased demands put on them that newspapers don’t. They are expected to produce much more content due to the nature of the Web. They write multiple blogs, comment on other blogs and posts, post on social media, and create video content. These demands cultivate mistakes and a lack of time for the journalists to make worthwhile content. They are expected to produce whatever gets the most “clicks”, which is never what is of importance, as we all would rather see a cute kitten than become aware of the atrocities of the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Because these journalists are so busy and have demands for popular content, our news is becoming less important, relevant, and fact driven.
With each closing of a newspaper we are seeing a decline in journalists, and a less informed public. Although we don’t realize it, newspapers put out the content we need to see, even if it is not what we want to see. They are much more pivotal to our world.