The Future Exploration Network's research on the future of media has predicted that newspapers as we know them will become extinct by 2040. Unless readers' habits change, traditional paper-based newspapers will have to shift their offerings from news articles to authoritative essays and unique magazine-style opinion pieces in order to stay afloat. Even then, convincing the public to take the time to read the ink on the paper will be a difficult task. With all the competition, where established and trusted voices are now bedfellows with new and fresh voices online, reviving a printed paper would be a difficult task. Douglas McLennan, founder and editor of ArtsJournal, and Jack Miles, Pulitzer Prize and MacArthur “brilliant award-winning author”, both agree that it is unlikely for traditional newspapers to survive in the near future.
It is predicted that one or both companies will be out of business in the next two to five years, leaving most of the country's major cities without a hometown every day.Digital media is unlikely to take over either. Although Canada has some notable digital news sites, such as Vancouver's Walrus and Tyee, they are significantly smaller and focus less on the details of local coverage. Social media platforms make information sharing ubiquitous and continuous, but where will that information come from in the first place when all the reporters have been let go?The role of the press as the ultimate defense of democracy has come to the fore in Canada, as well as in the U. S., due to President Donald Trump's many attempts to discredit newspapers by labeling them “fake news”.
This hostility is shared by Trump's large “Trumrepublican” political base. The combination of this widespread American antagonism with newspapers and their diagnosis of fatal advertising hemorrhage leads to a prognosis of imminent death. After that death, journalism will no longer be able to generate content with “the journalistic 'boots on the ground' model backed by a second platoon in the office that defends such sacred standards as verification and balance”. Nothing will prevent autonomous turns generated by its own events from taking control entirely. For generations, many newspapers have been called The Mirror, The Daily Mirror, The Hometown Mirror, or similar - aptly named for their role as a reflection of society. Older Americans are the most loyal readers of newspapers, while people born after 1980 largely don't subscribe to newspapers.
So every year, a few million newspaper readers die and are not replaced by new readers. The publicity that newspapers lost during the recession never returned when the economy improved. Print circulation continues to decline and more newspapers are becoming digital-only. Even the most important newspapers will eventually stop printing. Since television news began to become popular, old and ordinary newspapers began to find it very difficult to maintain their popularity. To stay up-to-date with current events, many news agencies made the right decision and started publishing their newspapers online.
Of course, this is just my personal opinion - if you are willing to wait until tomorrow to read about today's news, then more power to you. The people who run newspapers know that this challenge has been around for a decade or more, and virtually everyone knows that transitioning to the Internet is essential for their long-term survival. Just imagine your home without a mirror or any substitute for a mirror - no honest reflection of what it looks like - replaced with a fun mirror of widespread attempts to disguise, lie and spread false news.
