Newspapers And The Internet

Newspapers are dying and the internet is thriving. Most pundits think this is because the web delivers news faster and in a more interactive way.

Baloney.

People who are seriously interested in the news still read newspapers. Nobody with half a brain believes he's going to get better news coverage on a website than in a newspaper.

The problem is, most people are not seriously interested in the news, and never have been. The internet is not a better source of information, it's a better source of gossip and entertainment. And regardless of what they say, that's what people want. The internet is not killing newspapers because it delivers news better. It's just more fun.

As a blogger about advertising, I often read what other ad bloggers are writing. Most of it is inane gossip and infantile score-settling. And yet these are the blogs with the highest readerships.

As I've said on a number of occasions, this is not "the information age." It's the entertainment age.