Newspapers: Not the Only Source Of Knowledge

By Almas Akhtar, TMO

My earliest memories of reading newspaper is as an elementary school student early  in the morning during breakfast, my parents always insisted on reading the newspaper as it is was considered the source of knowledge. We used to discuss the world happenings during the Social Studies Class at school and collected newspaper clippings of famous incidents. Now when I look at my kids they get knowledge from the internet, they read about social and political happenings in the world on the computer rather than reading it on a newspaper .

“Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel”, was Mark Twain’ advice to the masses during his time but it does not sound quite feasible for the world of today! The ink-stained publishing world is battling against companies that sell ads via Internet.   According to my analysis there are several reasons for the decline of newspaper industry; most notably rise of the “cable news network”. Cable TV channels broadcast stories within few hours as it happens in contrast to the newspaper which comes only once a day. Internet is also a huge  factor , news is reported on the Internet within few minutes and sometimes within few seconds , that makes the news reported in a newspaper “ old news” or “ news of yesterday “ .

Another factor is money, printing presses need big offices , warehouses and salaried employees while E-books and online based newspapers require less overhead and large profits earned through advertisement revenue . It is also “impractical” to dig through a pile of newspapers to obtain a news story from last year; whereas with the internet, archives exist. Yes for sure the world of today has many different sources of information .

Well when I look at my parents I see them enjoying the morning newspaper printed on paper while enjoying a cup of tea. On the other hand my kids read about the world issues on the Internet and they read books on various electronic educational devices.

As for “me” I do click the computer several times during the day to get the world news, yet I also buy newspapers from grocery stores and book stores and enjoy reading every page .

I think it’s not only the evolution of social media but it is also the evolution of human beings and it will continue on.

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