Newsprint: Does it Deserve to Die?

I confess. I am a newspaper subscriber. But for how long? Newspapers are more than news. These days one could argue that newspapers aren't about news at all because a print headline is by definition a day old (compared to TV, Internet, Grapevine). So what is the "more" part? It is a trust I have in print, that I do not have in the other named sources, that information is somehow more authentic, more unbiased. This is the "burden of legacy" of print media. I read stuff on the Internet and I feel compelled to triangulate fact, author credentials etc. but if I read it in a paper, it is gold. Well, no more. Pieces like David Broder's adulation of Sarah Palin "pitch perfect populist message" somehow gain weight by being op-eds. I am depressed, lose faith in my fellow Americans especially women. And then later, I read in small print, in an easy to miss place, that on the same day a nationwide poll showing that 71% of Americans say Palin is unqualified to be president. I feel betrayed; I lose trust in print. Become cynical. Its just another information source. Anything for an alliteration.

Business is built on trust and it is getting harder and harder to trust pundits who pontificate in print.