As an avid reader of science fiction, I've often been exposed to futuristic stories where everyone gets news by cyberspace, or "interlink," or "the net," or some such electronic geegaw. Over the years, I've noticed it in fiction, but newspapers seem to have kept on coming. I frankly don't know how I'd handle my daily 30-minute elliptical run without a trusty USA Today to pass the time.
But lately, and I mean just in the last few weeks, I'm noticing what may be the death of newspapers.
--Here in Atlanta, the Journal-Constitution is exceedingly thin. Fry's ads that used to run every day on the back of the sports section are suddenly running only a couple of times a week. Just today the paper announced that the entire business section was being folded into their general news section in a few weeks. The entire daily paper is down to 40 pages or so.
--Of course back home in Denver, the Rocky Mountain News is in danger of imploding and going dark.
--I've seen other stories about some papers (Detroit) stopping home delivery and going to a M-W-F scheme.
--And no matter what paper I see, I'm noticing far more Associated Press stories and far fewer local-author stories.
I fear that this recession is finally doing what years of sci-fi has predicted, for different reasons: The true death of the major daily local newspaper.
Yes, you can get all the news you want on the web.
No, it's in no way the same experience.
Yes, because there are two places that net/news is not useful: on the throne and in a waiting room; definitely do not want to be taking your laptop into a stall of an airport bathroom.
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