One thing that pisses me off more than Iran’s “election”, more than Afghanistan’s “election” more than Apple and Steve Jobs, more than Republicans and more than TV networks cancelling high quality shows way too soon, is people talking about this idea that newspapers are going extinct. This is simply not the case.

Why do people think that? Well isn’t it obvious? The Internet is taking over, making newspapers obsolete (he writes sarcastically). Plus it was mentioned on The Simpsons. While it is true the main sources of revenue for newspapers, ie. full graphical and classified ads, are being taken over by Google and craigslist, this is merely a funds problem which can be rectified by coming up with a new business model, which I will not do here because I am not an expert on anything much less business, let others figure that one out. However I would like to say there was a time journalism wasn’t about the money, it was about doing a public good. It was considered a loss leader and a civic duty.

But what I will do is state why print, aka, newspapers, will continue to exist despite the Internet and debunk the idea that newspapers are obsolete. Continue reading →