Interesting article in Wired about the future of newspapers. Apparently the Washington Post commissioned a study which included the finding that "focus-group participants declared they wouldn't accept a Washington Post subscription even if it were free. The main reason (and I'm not making this up): They didn't like the idea of old newspapers piling up in their houses." I totally agree.
- That is my number one reason for not being interested in newspapers.
- Number two: too much reptition. They are in no-man's land--for slowly-unfolding stories, they are obliged to devote large portions of each article to repeating and summarizing information contained in prior articles. For fast-breaking stories, they aren't fresh enough.
- Number three: the infamous "written for readers with an eighth-grade education" factor (though that is overstated, at least for the better papers).
- Number four: unwieldy form factor.
- Number five: newsprint smears.
I definitely think newspapers, at least in printed form, are headed the way of the dodo. I should be a prime newspaper reader. I come from a newspaper-reading family. I am a news junkie. I read newspapaers as a child and teenager. Yet I reject them. (Unlike another finding in the survey, I do like newsmagazines.)
10:58:22 AM 
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