What will we do without newspapers?
Posted
Nov 28 2008, 10:13 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
A sheet of newspaper blew past me as I walked home yesterday. Watching it flap down the street, I had the oddest thought: What will happen when newspapers finally die?
Frugalists will be bummed, that's what. So will dog lovers, bird owners and the thrift store cashiers who insist on wrapping each dish you buy in sheets of yesterday's news.
Seriously, when I started to think about the ways that we use newspapers after reading them, I realized I'm going to be irritated when they go away. The death of the newspaper has been predicted for ages now. But I think it's really going to happen -- certainly in my lifetime, and maybe within 10 years.
And then what will I use to cushion fragile items that I mail? What will my daughter put at the bottom of her cat's litter box? What will the folks who make their own cat litter use in place of shredded newsprint?
Versatile stuff
As an old print newshound (Anchorage Daily News, Chicago Tribune), I feel glum at the thought of not having a paper to read. I still subscribe to The Seattle Times , even though it's becoming thinner and sadder by the day. This is a problem with newspapers all over the country, apparently; declining revenues mean layoffs and shrunken content.
Yet no matter how slim the news content, the physical product still makes itself useful. Even if you don't subscribe to a newspaper, many regions have "shopper" publications or alternative weeklies free for the taking.
Without newspapers, what will I put at the front door to soak up moisture from wet shoes? To say nothing of the fact that I would no longer be able to say, "These are the Times that dry men's soles."
What will bird owners put in the bottoms of the bird cages? How will people potty-train their puppies?
Without the color comics to wrap presents in, I'll have to buy gift wrap, or get creative about making my own.
All those folks who use newspaper to clean their windows, whether that's with commercial sprays or vinegar and water, will have to go back to paying for paper towels.
When I make jam each summer, my countertops are going to be messier. Usually I cover them with newspaper to catch the sticky drips that happen when I fill jars.
And will all those Brits be expected to eat fish 'n' chips from plates?
Whose news?
If/when newspapers go the way of the dodo, expect to start paying for replacement products: bird-cage liners, those annoying foam packing peanuts, "training pads" for puppies. Oh, and paper towels. Lots of paper towels. Of course, you can also use pages torn out of last year's phone books -- until paper phone books go bye-bye, too.
Much more troubling: Online-only news means that people who don't have computers, PDAs or hand-held reading devices like the Kindle won't have ready access to information. In an essay on this topic, a writer named Amanda Moshier said that "modernizing the way we receive our information is a slippery slope."
"What helps the planet and makes things more convenient for some widens the divide between the haves and have-nots -- and we're not talking about luxury cars or $4 lattes, houses in the Hamptons and Louis Vuitton bags. We're talking about knowledge," Moshier wrote.
"We're talking about information. We're talking about news. And once commerce begins dictating who gets access to what information based on who can afford the latest wireless reader or a computer in their own home, we're headed down the wrong path."
If you don't have a computer, or access to a computer, that newspaper may be a big part of the way you make sense of the world. Sure, the news in the daily paper is "new" as of only about 11 p.m. the day before. But it gives the basics of a situation, coverage that will be updated in subsequent days' papers. You can read it, and reread it if necessary -- if an idea is too amazing, abstract or infuriating to appreciate fully on the first try.
Please don't write and tell me that "everybody" has access to computers now. Everybody doesn't. Maybe everyone you know does, but here's the thing: Not everyone in the world looks like you. Two potentially disenfranchised groups that come to mind are people with extremely limited incomes and people who live far from free Internet sources like libraries.
I've got an 85-year-old aunt who only went as far as the eighth grade. Due to poverty and serious health problems, she's never had a computer and is unable to visit the library regularly to use the free ones there. But she reads a newspaper whenever she can get one.
Besides, I'm not so sure that Internet-only news helps the planet. Sure, newspapers are a waste-heavy product, but the recycling of "e-waste" is a matter of increasing ecological concern -- and how many people do you know regularly upgrade their computers, PDAs and cell phones?
Myself, I've been using the same desktop for nearly four years. Then again, I'm still a newspaper subscriber.
