Quote from a 1959 movie. An editor tells a reporter about newspapers:
You know what people use these for?
They roll them up and swat their puppies for wetting on the rug. They spread them on the floor when they’re painting the walls. They wrap fish in them. Shred them up and pack their two-bit china in them when they move. Or else they pile up in the garage until an inspector declares them a fire hazard!
But this also happens to be a couple of more things!
It’s got print on it that tells stories that hundreds of good men all over the world have broken their backs to get. It gives a lot of information to a lot of people who wouldn’t have known about it if we hadn’t taken the trouble to tell them.
It’s the sum total of the work of a lot of guys who don’t quit. It’s a newspaper, that’s all. Well, you’re right for once, stupid.
And it only costs 10 cents, that’s all. But if you only read the comic section or the want ads — it’s still the best buy for your money in the world … here — you’ll probably want something to read on your way home.
Or you might just do something else. Did someone say “changing consumer behaviour…”?
[HT: Paul Schindler]
Maybe the heading should be ‘Why people buy newspapers’.
Or bought…
In India we read newspapers because out here for many of us it still is the only source of credible news. We don’t trust the broadcast media with its so called ‘in the face’ news coverage.
Funnily enough I’m doing research on the survival of print media within the dynamic flux of new media. I’m very much passionate about print media — from the smell of newspapers to the hard work put towards working on an edition. I completely support Suparna, there is some “realness” with print media as opposed to the news you pick up from broadcast as well as the internet. Print has made it this far, I generally feel it still has a gap to fill in society.