Long live the newspaper ?

I love reading, love the news and I have a long, but fading relationship with newspapers. Increasingly I get my news on-line, but I still like holding a paper in my hands.

In Michael Kinsley's column in the Washington Post Black and White and Dead All Over he writes:

Once, I would drive across town if necessary. Today, I open the front door and if the paper isn't within about 10 feet I retreat to my computer and read it online. Only six months ago, that figure was 20 feet. Extrapolating, they will have to bring it to me in bed by the end of the year and read it to me out loud by the second quarter of 2007.

I don't know about the "reading it out loud" part, but this is close to my experience and feelings. In the old days when it the New York Times wasn't easily available, I would make the effort to seek it out, and reading the LA Times has been a life long habit bordering on a deep seeded need. But with inconsistent delivery and questionable editorial policies, among other things, I recently have seriously considered cancelling my subscription.

Reading on-line and listening to audio books (which I did for the first time last month) are not the same "quality" experiences from a tactile/sensory standpoint, but I think that things obviously and increasingly trending away from our participating with information in those ways. The newspapers have much to fear from the internet if they don't respond creatively, and I think we will look back in five years to see a drastically different landscape. Some of it is scary to think about because further media consolidation is bound to take place.