Last of a dying breed.

As I sit here reading my Sunday paper, per my Sunday ritual, I am bothered by a statement that I heard yesterday in reference to newspapers:

“They’re kinda dying anyways, so who cares?”

As a trained/wanna-be journalist, hearing such things cuts me to the core.

And although I am not going to argue the point, as I agree that newspapers are dying, I wanted to give newspapers and journalism their due.

I also realize that as a blogger I am part of the perceived “problem.” But I think of electronic journalism as the grandson of newspapers.

The printing press represents the grandfather, as it was the first real-step toward mass communication and wide-spread newspaper distribution. The father was the wire service(s), allowing newspapers to spread/share information at speeds previously unfathomed. The wire(s) allowed newspapers to share information from all around the world, making newspapers national/global in scope. And we’ve now arrived that the electronic age, probably the greatest step away from “traditional” journalism. The e-movement had banished newspaperman staples like typewriters, 35mm cameras and in some cases, even pen and paper.

While newspaper subscriptions and readerships rates may be declining, online readership is up. And I see that as hopeful, not a woeful indication of a slow and painful death.

This is because the move to electronic journalism is simply evolution. Much the way newspaper production has gone electronic, it only follows that consumption will follow the same route.

The newspaper will never die. The journalistic tradition of sharing information is the guiding light of all journalists- From Bob Woodward to Perez Hilton…yeah it pains me to say that.

While objectivity and grammar make take a bit of a hit as anyone with something to say and a connection to the internet can post their rants to the tubes, I am offering that the press is freer now than in its hey-day. The important distinction to make is between well-meaning journalists and people with an axe to grind. Which is not to say that all journalists are objective or that all bloggers are crack pots, it just means that consumers must be savvy when reading what is posted online.

I think the current incarnation of the Iraq War has taught Americans that the day of pre-packaged, edited and safe for consumption news is over. The new frontier of news is one of an educated populace as well as an educated journalist.

Early newspapers were expensive to produce and the barriers to creating/distributing them were great. Another little known aspect of early American newspapers is that they were decidedly partisan. They were not objective. These newspapers were produced to serve a finite purpose…not to be the 4th branch of government, but to further some political/financial goal of the producer.

The blessing and the curse of online journalism is that anyone can share their ideas as the barriers are considerably lessened. Nearly anyone can stroll into a library, hop online and blog. This is far closer to the idea of free press than the founding fathers or early newspaper tycoons could have comprehended. In much the same way newspapers evolved from self-interested soapboxes to objective watchdogs, electronic journalism, if allowed to mature, will go the same route.

Sadly newspapers are dying. But they have laid the foundation for the next generation of journalists. Who will not only carry-on a legacy but learn from previous missteps.

So don’t dismiss the newspaper sitting on the table next to you at the coffee shop. See it for what it is; a paradigm-shifting medium that has changed the way people communicate with each other, that is still so relevant that it’s shaping its replacement.