The Downward Decline of the Newspaper

I was almost surprised by the decline of the Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, but then again, I'm not surprised. With the rise of the internet, readership of these papers is going down. In our online class yesterday, we discussed where the public will be able to get their news and if that news could be reliable.

Personally, I don't think that professional journalism will never completely disappear. More and more professional journalists might start their own blogs, but the journalistic style of writing and reporting will never completely disappear. Professor Macek mentioned yesterday that journalism might turn into a hobby, but I disagree. There will always be people who want professional news, online or otherwise. However, I think that journalists will get paid less money and that news posted on the internet will be less reliable than printed news. I was just discussing with a friend today on entries in the online edition of Encyclopedia Britannica. My friend looked up an entry about a famous composer in the print edition (which contained a comprehensive overview of the composer's life, music teachers, repertoire, etc.) Later, my friend looked up that same entry online and found that the online edition contained massive errors about the composer (that he had webbed hands and physical features that made it easier for him to be a virtuoso...not!)

I know I'd rather have a print edition of a newspaper than have to go online to find news. But I'd rather have quality news than no news at all!