newspapers

New York Times

Washington Post

Jamaica Gleaner

Jamaica Observer

New York Times

Sunday Herald

They all are newspapers but they now have websites publishing their work online. Traditionally, one would wake up and if you work a nine to five job, you may have access to the office newspaper. For others, you might buy the newspaper on the streets to read. In a world where access to news is becoming more popular, are newspapers becoming outdated or can they still be relevant?

With the growing use of news networks both on radio and television, bloggers, and social networks, the news offered by newspapers are outdated. Most times they have to wait hours to print the next publication. By this time, the news has developed into something more than the initial issue. The burden is left up to journalists who should write news stories to still make the issue topical and news breaking.

We live in societies where the young are not interested in reading. But you might say how important are these sectors to the industry? They are important, ask any marketing manager of any firm and they will attest that the young in any market are driving innovativeness.  Where the younger generations are not interested in sitting and turning from page to page to view late news, newspapers must seek to become innovative to make the news accessible to people in ways that are more innovative. It is interesting that users of the internet will prefer to read online articles than skip pages of a newspaper.

Journalists are given the responsibility to inform the general public of what’s happening in the society. There duties are even more important in societies where there is a free market in the media industry. Journalists try to inspire, persuade and change opinions in their work. Through this, newspapers have added features to their package to make it more appealing. Newspaper features include: editorials, opinion pages, and different aspects which are targeted to entertainment and social activities. This adds some relevance to the product.

Newspapers have their relevance in societies to inform and to provide serious journalism. For those who opt not to use the internet surely the newspaper is a definite alternative to source breaking and topical news. However, if newspapers are to remain open for business in the near future they must become more aware of the changes in technology.

They will become outdated if they do not change how they operate business. Newspapers internationally are becoming more than ever like a television network providing current breaking news stories. Newspaper companies should be seeking to have subscribers to their service where breaking news can be emailed and send to blackberries and cell-phones. This will make their service competitive and add relevance to their work. Newspaper companies should now become innovative to remain relevant or become outdated while technologies increase.

Corve DaCosta