Is Print Dead, or Just in Decline?

Are newspapers dead, or just in decline?

If I'm honest with you, I can't actually remember the last time I physically picked up a newspaper as opposed to just flicking through the numerous news apps I have on my smartphone.  Why would I waste time fiddling around with huge pages filled with stories that might not interest me, when I could have everything I need, filtered to my personal interests on one single screen.  This is the issue. The newspaper industry is dwindling because everything you could read in a UK newspaper or magazine is also readily available online, along with countless other points of views on many different stories.

Every huge news corporation has an online presence to go alongside their print publication, and these often draw in more readers than their print counterparts.  Why would you pay to read news in hardcopy when you can get it for free online?  Online media just seems like the more convenient and cheaper option.  Where the Daily Mail has a monthly circulation of 1.5 million, their online monthly unique browsers reaches 210 million, showing just how much more popular The Mail Online is, compared to the print version.

Using Twitter, I created a poll asking how my followers prefer to receive their news, their options were: through a mobile app, newspaper, podcast or website.  The poll found most people prefer to receive their news from a website or mobile app, and only 20% via traditional newspaper.  However, The Guardian points out that many established fashion brands such as asos.com, style.com and netaporter.com have starting producing print magazines alongside their websites to gain extra marketing attention and to boost their community.  Does this suggest print is not dead, but just in need of a re-vamp to make it more current?

The Guardian article suggests that the death of print journalism has been widely exaggerated, and most people still prefer print over online; apparently, 88% of readers in the UK still enjoy reading a magazine or newspaper because they prefer to hold something physical.  These figures are promising, but they don't explain the huge fall in circulation of so many print publications.

It is a fact that print sales are dwindling, and many publications are being forced to change their tactics, such as going online, to combat this or fear being closed down for good.  However, I don't see digitalisation as a completely negative thing; the possibilities for journalism are being expanded, more people than ever before can now call themselves a journalist with the help of blogging and microblogging, and despite the decline in some national newspapers, many are still fighting for their lives.  I believe print is in decline and in need of a revamp, but it definitely is not dead.