I gave up buying daily newspapers a number of years ago. I do, however, subscribe to the Financial Times and the Economist – reading one online (sometimes) and listening to the other (sometimes). We have the Irish Times delivered home on Saturday – but I do not read much (if any) of it. And for the last number of years I have bought the Sunday Times and the Sunday Business Post on Sundays. But, to be honest, find myself increasingly bored by both.
Problems with newspapers?
So, what’s the problem? Has the standard of journalism dropped so much that I am not interested? Has the content changed and become less relevant to mey tastes in news? Is my life too busy to find time to read a newspaper?
I think the biggest change is that no one else in the house is interested in reading newspapers – or, should I say, interested in waiting for the newspaper as a source of news. When I was growing up as a kid the newspaper made its way around the house – read by one, if not two parents, and different pieces were read by different kids (including myself). But now now – not in our house and not in many houses.
And whatever about paying more than €3 for a newspaper on Sunday which may make sense if read by three people not sure it represents great value if only read by one person. And there is no interaction with other household members re the Sunday paper – because they get their news elsewhere – and are online all the time.
I do not have any particular issue with the quality or content/ relevance of the newspapers. But I am inundated with other news – news sites, twitter, blogs,various aggregation sites – far more than I have time to process.
No longer setting the weekly agenda
There was a time when the Sunday newspapers were looking to set the agenda for the week – the breaking new stories which would play out over the following week. No longer any need for this – the news breaks real time all of the time.
Keep paying?
So why do I continue to pay for subscriptions to the Economist and the Financial Times? I think I am still convinced, just about, that the spend is worthwhile for the content. But it’s marginal.
Not sure the newspapers have done a lot wrong – but I think to remain relevant, they have to find a way to become part of the future social framework – which is real time, mobile and largely free.
