Digital Media taken out Print Media

Social Media has played a major impact on how we receive our daily news. Many people decide to get the news from apps that are on their phone because it is convenient to read. With this increase in the use of digital media as a news source, it is interesting to consider whether print media will become extinct.

Print media has been around for hundreds of years. The first invention that helped launch this idea of printing text was the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440. Over the next 600 years or so, print media developed as a primary source of news. Over the past 10 years, more and more print media companies have been branched out from traditional print and began posting news on digital platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and company websites.  In particular, young millennials seem to spend more of their time on the internet than reading printed materials. In some ways, the advancement of technology has made the human population lazy. News being documented and shared on social media platforms has had a negative effect on the print media industry. According to an article about newspapers, “Average weekday circulation fell 7%, the most since 2010. This drop was due entirely to print circulation, which declined by 9%, while digital circulation increased by 2%. ... As with weekday circulation, the fall in Sunday circulation was due to a decline in print circulation, which fell 5% while digital rose 4%”.[1] I see many people on my daily railroad commute to NYC that instead of having a printed newspaper, are reading articles on their computer, iPad, or other electronic device. Thirty years ago, on my father’s daily commute, the picture was different; most people read their news on paper form. Printed news is not the only paper format affective by the digital age. I was doing research and came across an article that discussed how digital advertising is expanding while traditional media may be in trouble. “Well, the good news is that marketing agencies are expected to spend a total of $540 billion worldwide on advertising in 2015, led by a 15.7 percent growth in digital media. The bad news, however, is that advertising dollars in television, newspapers and magazines are either on the decline or showing stunted gains, offering further proof that traditional media may be on its way out.”[2] I, for one, get my daily news on Facebook.

Katherine Quinn, Graduate Student

Master of Arts in Emerging Media

Loyola University Maryland

[1] Barthel, Michael. "Newspapers: Fact Sheet." Pew Research Center's Journalism Project. N.p., 15 June 2016. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.

[2] Connor, Jackson. "Digital Advertising Expected To Climb, While Traditional Media May Be In Trouble." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 Mar. 2015. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.