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Media/Impact (Newspapers) The public role of newspapers can hardly be underestimated. They represent the classical way of obtaining information in democratic societies. Newspapers educate and entertain at the same time. They can be easily carried and disposed of, if necessary. The spiritual foundation of democratic society is based on the idea that people can make political decisions on their own.
However, in order to be able to do this, they need to be well informed about the current events. This is when newspaper comes in handy. There are reports of newspapers being regularly published as far back in history as 1502. Basically, the beginning of newspaper era coincided with invention of printing press. This invention made it possible for the information to be reproduced multiple times, within a very short time. Another important factor that contributed to the rise of newspapers popularity was increasing level of literacy among people.
More and more of them were able to read and they craved information. As time went on, newspapers begin to specialize in covering different topics. As for now, there are several different types of newspapers. The political newspapers are considered to be the most respectable of all.
They cover issues of socio-political importance, such as political or economic affairs. These newspapers strive to maintain their reputation, as reliable source of information, on very high level. In recent times, a so called tabloid newspapers are becoming more popular, as biological quality of people in Western countries decreases. Tabloids do not contain any relevant information, but they do appeal to marginalized elements in society.
We can say that tabloids are meant to just entertain readers. As a rule, they consist of rumors about the lives of Hollywood stars. Also, sometimes they contain a shocking scientific discoveries, such as stories about asteroids that are on collision course the Earth etc. There are also specialized newspapers that are meant to appeal to people with well defined social or cultural affiliations. For example, there are many newspapers that are dedicated exclusively to selling real estate. There are ethnic newspapers, which can only be read by representatives of ethnic minorities.
In recent times, the traditional role of newspapers, as the main carriers of information, is being undermined by the rise of informational technologies, such as Internet. It is no longer necessary for the person to wait until the newspaper is being delivered to his door, in order to find out what happened in the world. He can turn on TV or his computer and get the information off the web. Nevertheless, people are used to reading newspapers so much that it became an essential pert of their lives. It appears that many people subscribe to newspapers, in order to be considered as respectable members of society, even though that they rarely read them. Nowadays, most of newspapers are being bought by people for two reasons: they are being bored, while waiting for the bus, or they need to find a job.
Very often people do not even bother to read newspapers front articles. They simply skip to Classifieds section. This is why we can say that the era of printed newspapers has entered its dusk's. However, this does not mean that newspapers are going to become thing of the past.
The so called online newspapers are becoming increasingly popular. They are being formatted in classical way, but they are only available on Internet. The articles of interest can be printed out with the touch of a button. In the future, it is quite possible that printed and virtual newspapers might fuse into something unitary. It is being shown in the movie The Minority Report, where people read plastic newspapers that contain digital information, which allows newspapers pictures and comic strips to be fully animated. Thus, it is too early to suggest that newspaper industry will inevitably loose its vitality.
The technological progress might give the newspaper a second life. (1) Like Marsland's article Newspapers' Role in Influencing Opinion is Dead suggests that newspapers political influence is becoming negligible: The print industry now competes with alternative media and technologies that did not exist less than two decades ago. The fact that newspapers are not the main influence of public opinion any longer, is just one of the threats to the survival of the printing industry being debated by the international print industry (Marsland). Author discusses the recent cultural phenomenon, commonly referred to as a literacy. A literacy is persons unwillingness to expand his mind with the mean of reading, even though that he knows how to read. Marsland considers the a literacy to be one of the biggest threats to the very existence of newspaper industry. Articles shortcoming is the fact that author does not understand what causes people to become alliterate, in the first place.
She simply states that this is bad, but she does not provide readers with the insight of how to encourage people to read newspapers: We seem to be raising young people who are technically illiterate, although they have the function to read. A literacy creates a cultural bias towards print and alternative media gains influence (Marsland). Nevertheless, one does not have to be a sociologist to realize that the decline of peoples intellectual abilities in Western countries has began when these countries started to become multicultural. People are no longer drawn to intellectual pursuits, because all they need is satisfaction of their immediate physical urges and nothing else.
This is why, the real reason why people loose interest to reading has biological rather then technological nature. Still, Marsland's article is very interesting, because she provides us with a lot of factual information. She was able to foresee that any attempts to encourage people to read newspapers, which are not based on understanding the true motivations behind a literacy, are doomed to failure. (2) In his article Paged Media Defines Role of Newspapers Today Kerry Northrup suggests that the reason why newspapers used to play such an important social role, is because printed Medias present information in most absorbable form for the human mind: Perhaps more than any other medium today, the newspaper in form and function is a direct result of the way the human mind works. We react instinctively to what is bigger, higher, heavier or first. We naturally cluster things to make sense of them relative to each other (Northrup). Thus, it appears that the psychological factors are just as important, when it comes to designing newspaper, as technological ones.
Northrup rightfully considers newspapers layout as the most rational, for conveying printed information. As practice shows, it is not necessary to read the article fully, in order to understand its essence. This is why journalists talent relates to his ability to come up with catchy headings, for the articles. This is especially the case when we talk about informational items. Author suggests that: Newspapers as paged media are still printed on sheets of paper and why that will continue to be the case for the foreseeable future (Northrup). His attitude towards the discussed topic is clearly conservative, because he does not attach much of importance to the effects of digital technology on newspapers.
Nevertheless, author does not doubt the fact that it is only the matter of very short time, before printing of newspapers is going to be based on totally new principles: Each copy of the newspapers coming off those digital presses could be individually different from every other copy, perhaps with sports scores or advertising tailored to the particular subscriber (Northrup). Northrup's article has a high educational value, because the topic of newspapers future is being discussed in terms of logic. At the same time, author clearly expresses his emotional attachment to printed Medias. It is almost impossible to disagree with any of his statements.
Northrup is absolutely right when he says that newspapers do not only enable us be socially aware, but also make our existence stylish. (3) Frank Blethen in his article Americas Democracy at Risk suggests that one of the biggest threats to democracy in America derives from the fact that most of newspapers in this country promote corporate agendas: By the mid- 90 s, the capitalists had won the newspaper battle, controlling about 85 percent of Americas daily newspapers leaving in their wake massive journalism disinvestment, which has ended most of our independent and watchdog journalism (Blethen). The term free press became just another buzz word, because newspapers are being increasingly dependent on commercial advertising. Therefore, journalists opinions cannot be fully independent. As a rule, most of American newspapers editorials promote lobbyist interests.
Also, the political-correctness has turned itself into a new censorship, when no news can be reported, if they contradict the concept of multicultural paradise. It is not just news that became the subject of censorship, but even statistics. American newspapers are not allowed to report crime statistics in its relation to peoples racial affiliation. Frank Blethen clearly promotes Liberal agenda, because he continuously refers to newspapers owners as capitalist sharks.
He is making many good points in his article; nevertheless, he lacks something very important tolerance. Blethen keeps ranting about the danger to democracy, which comes as the result of American newspapers being owned by the same people, yet he would not mind if these newspapers were being ordered to express exclusively his point of view. However, as whole, Blenthems article can be considered as progressive; he suggests that newspaper is the ultimate tool of spreading knowledge. It is only through newspapers that people can control their bureaucrats, by the mean of influencing public opinion.
How can we possibly control and fight the faceless, absentee money-changers as long as they can prevent us from knowing what they are doing? asks author rhetorically. The answer to this question is obvious the lobbyist influence on newspapers must be reduced by legislative acts. Bibliography: Blethen, Frank Americas Democracy at Risk. 8 Dec. 2006. Free Press. 16 Mar. 2007.
web Marsland, Louise Newspapers' Role in Influencing Opinion is Dead. 2007. Biz Community. Com. 16 Mar. 2007. web Northrup, Kerry Paged Media Defines Role of Newspapers Today. 2007. The International Journal of Newspaper Technology. 16 Mar. 2007. web
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