We’re NOT A Dying Breed – No Matter What ‘They’ Say!

Print newspapers have many downfalls, which is probably why readers will say paper publications will disappear in coming decades.  If you buy a newspaper in the morning, on your way to work, whatever you read about is most likely “old” by the time your day is over.

But, if you acknowledge the fact that France’s satirical publication Charlie Hebdo sold over five million copies of their controversial newspaper, you’ll understand why print will never die! Anyone can go online and see why Charlie Hebdo’s deadly issue – showing a cartoon of the prophet Muhammed – sold out on many Paris newsstands. The Daily News showed people waiting in line for the paper and other outlets show readers who bought multiple issues  - possibly to save a few copies as historical memorabilia.

There are so many reasons why communities – especially ones like Canarsie – need newspapers. Whether it’s due to the exclusive stories we publish that you won’t find anywhere else, or the fact that you’ve been a subscriber for years, there are lots of basic benefits of buying a print paper!

Clippings Are Historical: If you’re reading the Canarsie Courier and catch a photo of yourself, a friend or family member who accomplished something or received an award, it might be a photo and story you’ll want to keep. Those who enjoy nostalgia will save the page or preserve the entire paper to remember the milestone – or to simply show someone else years down the road. Ever notice how tacky it is to print out a story from a news web site on 8 1/2 x 11 paper from your printer and try to preserve that? Half of the time, you have to hope the web site has a “printable version” that does the story justice and that the photos and captions aren’t in strange locations. Let’s face it! The printouts you get from online are nothing like the newspapers’ hard copy.

Do Away With Passwords: So…You sign on to a publication’s website to which you’ve subscribed. Sign on? When you buy a newspaper in the store, you don’t have to log in, ‘forget your password’ or, hell, remember a password! Getting a hard copy of a paper or magazine, unless it’s days and weeks old, ensures you’ve got the news in front of you to read without typing something in a box or jotting down usernames and passwords – and you won’t get any of those “server is down” messages while you’re opening each page of a publication.

Commercials Are For Television: Most people who watch news clips on social media are forced to open a link that shows you a commercial before you even get to the main story. It’s getting more and more tedious to follow a story online when you have to “wait 30 seconds for your story to load” while you’re forced to not look at detergent or car insurance commercials. Buying a newspaper or magazine means YOU choose when you see advertisements – whether it’s waaay after reading the main stories or…not at all!

A Sign Of The Times: I’m sure there are parents and grandparents who want to pull up artifacts from the “old days” – including periodicals from when they grew up. Try saving (in a physical location) a link to a story that’s over a decade old! In most instances, unless it’s a well-archived online paper, the link will probably change or relocate if the web site has updated their look or undergone renovations to look more modern. Believe me – there’s nothing like thumbing through an actual paper that shows a sign of times, including old advertisements, fonts that no one uses anymore and typesetting that demonstrates some form of creative flowing text.

Young whippersnappers might turn to their iThings for “news” and we might see a slow-down in the appreciation of print media, but there’s no denying that holding a paper in your hand – specifically when it comes to a special edition of a publication that you want to cherish for years to come –never goes out of style!

Unpublished as of January 14, 2014