Pics: Black History Month RoundTable Discussion

Special Thanks To Assemblyman Tom Alfano, Assemblyman Carl Heastie, Professor Nkenge Gilliam, and White House Credentialed Reporter Carla Cohen For Allowing Me To Participate In Such Prestigious Event.

Journalists Vs. Bloggers: One Click Away

There was a day when a journalist’s elusiveness with the pen, and cogent wordplay was just enough to sway the reader into sparing 50 cents for their respective paper. There was a day when a journalist garnered the respect of many because of their tenacious pursuit in attacking each article as if it was their last. There was a day when a journalist never thought he or she would have to give up their jobs because technology would oust their company out of relevancy, and off into the wind. No, nobody thought that, but, in reality, all good things must come to an end. Print Journalism has played a significant role in history. From editorial writers fuming in regards to the Vietnam War, to the remarkable coverage of Watergate by the Washington Post, to even the Times’ deliverance after the catastrophe dubbed as 9/11, our trusted print papers were there. But I, firmly believe, it’s time to close the book on print, and allow the authors of the technological era to take center stage, and begin on their quest to engage in a new legacy.

Newspapers have already lost substantial consumers, and readers because of the launch of various news outlets who have soared online. According to Eric Alterman’s “Out Of Print”, “trends in circulation and advertising” and also the “rise of the Internet” have made newspapers look “slow and unresponsive”. Society, or at least the younger generation are attracted to things that can that they can have access to in a short matter of time. Rather than run outside, and grab a newspaper – which they would have to pay for – they can look online, and search CNN.Com, or ESPN.Com for the latest news. It’s no coincidence that the “average age of the American newspaper reader is fifty-five, and rising.” (Out of Print) The elderly are technologically inept, and are traditionally sounded, meaning, they are accustomed to walking to their local convenient stores outside, and purchasing the daily paper, because they were raised on that. The numbers continue to favor the rise of the internet because only “19 percent of Americas between the ages of 18-34 claim even to look at a daily newspaper ”. (Out of Print)Society is losing touch with their sense of tradition. The Sunday mornings of waiting for the local newspaper boy to deliver their paper lacks any value, because of the entrance of the Internet. Convenience is overriding tradition. In October 2009, The Washington Post had an article titled, “The Accelerating Decline in Newspapers”, and stated that “papers across the country lost 10.6 percent of their paying readers from April through September. In addition, in 1940, 41.1 million Americans bought a daily newspaper”, this is according to the Newspaper Association of America. People took pride in reading their newspapers, and engaging in fruitful conversations about the days’ topic at hand. Now, the numbers have declined and are sitting at 30.4 million as of October. With the readers running out the doors, and betraying the once heavily relied on newspapers, so are advertisers. Newspapers were cash cows in the past because they were able to depend on advertisers, but now, since they are pulling out, stocks have been declining, resulting in them being sold. Prominent newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal have fell victim to those ordeals, and were forced to sell off their “the majority of their holdings.” (Out of Print) Even the NY Times, a paper that has been around since the 1890’s – providing readers highly detailed reports and articles – have witnessed its “stock decline by fifty-four percent since the end of 2004.” (Out of Print). Papers like The Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, are clinging by a thread because of their names, and credibility. What’s interesting is that Times.Com even wrote an article predicting other credible newspapers that may fall into obscurity because of the two-headed monster named the recession and the Internet. They predicted newspapers such as the Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Daily News, The Minnesota Tribune Star, The Miami Herald, and The New York Daily News to either go cyber, or collapse.

Another reason why the demise of print is coming at such an alarming rate is because of the significant rise of bloggers. According to Webster’s Dictionary, “blogging” is simply writing entries. Somewhere along the line, blogging has become a huge phenomenon, and has exploded in the industry. In “Bloggers Vs. Journalists is Over”, NY Times writer Jim Schwartz candidly admitted how difficult the blogs were to beat. “For vivid reporting from the enormous zone of tsunami disaster, it was hard to beat the blogs.” The arduous task of competing against the blogs has been beyond tedious. With journalists going out of their way to do the excruciating dirty work of reporting and writing, blogs are hammering down papers by simply snatching reports that have been carefully collected, and placing them on their own sites for their viewers amusement. As Jay Rosen illustrated within his piece “Bloggers Vs Journalists is Over”, celebrities, and high profiled people no longer need the access of reporters to warrant public attention. With the access of the weblog, people such as Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban, Musician Kanye West, Golfer Tiger Woods, have taken up on the responsibility of reporting their lives through their own blogs. They figured, who better than themselves , should take the responsibility in enlightening people with their daily routine. Mark Cuban has singlehandedly destroyed several jobs of beat writers because Cuban “hardly deals with them anymore.”(B VS J) Accessibility and convenience should be the trademark behind the Internet, because of the stability it provides for its readers, and users. The beauty about blogs is that everybody has the chance to be a journalist of their own. Each person has the ability to voice their own opinion through an editorial on their respective blogs. Each person has the ability to post news that reporters were savagely trying to get done after transcribing, and writing up, to just simply reword, and place on their sites. Jon Lowder said it best: “The paper doesn’t have a voice.” The monotonous fact crunching and statistics are no longer appealing for today’s readers. Blogs are allowing people to open never before seen access to the lives of people – things the paper didn’t want the public to see. Why rely on things like the New York Times to have a journalist paint me a visual of the Woods accident, when I could go on his website, and get the artist himself to reenact that incident through his own eyes? Why flip through People’s magazine to hear the latest on Brad & Angelina, when people could just be one click away on TMZ for their celebrity gossip fix?

The craft of journalists will never be duplicated. That’s understood. But, as far as newspapers are concerned, it’s time to retire print, and embrace the new school. Allow bloggers, and the Internet to take heed, venture on, and establish a legacy of their own - just like print did. Print Journalism is equivalent to Elvis, The Beatles, & Michael Jackson – timeless material, incredible history, unforgettable moments that were Kodak worthy – but inevitably – a thing of the past.