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The Independent ceasing to print would be the death of a medium, not of a message The Independent ceasing to print would be the death of a medium, not of a message
(7 months later)
If the Independent is about to cease appearing as a printed newspaper, as is mooted, we should be sad, but we also need to get used to that feeling, for sooner rather than later they will all go. No one can say in what order it will happen, but it will happen to the most venerable titles, even to the top-selling Sun and Mail.If the Independent is about to cease appearing as a printed newspaper, as is mooted, we should be sad, but we also need to get used to that feeling, for sooner rather than later they will all go. No one can say in what order it will happen, but it will happen to the most venerable titles, even to the top-selling Sun and Mail.
Trace the downward curves of print sales over the past couple of decades and then extend those lines into the future: you will find they all hit zero at some point in the next 25 years or so – and of course they will have to cease publication long before that zero moment comes.Trace the downward curves of print sales over the past couple of decades and then extend those lines into the future: you will find they all hit zero at some point in the next 25 years or so – and of course they will have to cease publication long before that zero moment comes.
It is possible that some titles might continue to appear in print as retro niche products, rather like vinyl LPs, but for serious purposes the paid-for newspaper is going the way of the dodo.It is possible that some titles might continue to appear in print as retro niche products, rather like vinyl LPs, but for serious purposes the paid-for newspaper is going the way of the dodo.
Indeed, for most people under about 35 it is already extinct – a couple of years ago I stopped talking to my students about newspapers because even budding journalists don’t see the point of buying a wad of newsprint every morning.Indeed, for most people under about 35 it is already extinct – a couple of years ago I stopped talking to my students about newspapers because even budding journalists don’t see the point of buying a wad of newsprint every morning.
Related: Independent owner considering closing national print titles
So what are we losing? What difference does it make when one national paper abandons print, or indeed all our national papers abandon print and they appear only as online publications? To start with, and importantly, it makes no difference to those younger readers who never embraced print and who, as time passes, will inevitably come to run the world. They feel about the print newspaper as they do about the horse-drawn carriage.So what are we losing? What difference does it make when one national paper abandons print, or indeed all our national papers abandon print and they appear only as online publications? To start with, and importantly, it makes no difference to those younger readers who never embraced print and who, as time passes, will inevitably come to run the world. They feel about the print newspaper as they do about the horse-drawn carriage.
For the rest of us, including those who run the world now, there will be some loss because for us a print paper can still carry clout and drama, especially if read in the morning. Its front page challenges us, its flow of pages works subtly upon our thinking, and its leading articles lead us – or at least try to. Few who were brought up in a world of thriving print newspapers can escape their spell. And without the print edition of the Independent a voice that is distinctive and, for all the vicissitudes of the past 30 years, still pretty independent is less likely to be heard. The variety of messages and ideas in circulation among these older generations will be smaller. And that is both sad and bad for us generally.For the rest of us, including those who run the world now, there will be some loss because for us a print paper can still carry clout and drama, especially if read in the morning. Its front page challenges us, its flow of pages works subtly upon our thinking, and its leading articles lead us – or at least try to. Few who were brought up in a world of thriving print newspapers can escape their spell. And without the print edition of the Independent a voice that is distinctive and, for all the vicissitudes of the past 30 years, still pretty independent is less likely to be heard. The variety of messages and ideas in circulation among these older generations will be smaller. And that is both sad and bad for us generally.
But this is a fading world and it is obvious that in the new world, where we are almost permanently online and almost permanently in communication, the diversity of opinions in the public space is growing, not shrinking.But this is a fading world and it is obvious that in the new world, where we are almost permanently online and almost permanently in communication, the diversity of opinions in the public space is growing, not shrinking.
We may moan about the perversity and the hysterical nature of news accessed through Facebook and Twitter, but these are just different forms of perversity and hysteria, and they have at least as much power to deliver a great variety of messages and ideas to us, and to the people who will run the world next.We may moan about the perversity and the hysterical nature of news accessed through Facebook and Twitter, but these are just different forms of perversity and hysteria, and they have at least as much power to deliver a great variety of messages and ideas to us, and to the people who will run the world next.
Indeed there is no reason why an online Independent, imaginatively managed, cannot play its part. Who will pay for the journalism if the current owner, Evgeny Lebedev, bails out? Who knows? But don’t write it off.Indeed there is no reason why an online Independent, imaginatively managed, cannot play its part. Who will pay for the journalism if the current owner, Evgeny Lebedev, bails out? Who knows? But don’t write it off.
That online environment is no mere cacophony of competing noises. It is chiefly a place where people look for information they can trust, and the Independent’s name is worth something there. It may not have the status of a grand “legacy brand” such as the BBC, the New York Times or indeed the Guardian, but it does have a 30-year track record – and remember that there is also room for creative newcomers. Look at Huffington Post and Vice.That online environment is no mere cacophony of competing noises. It is chiefly a place where people look for information they can trust, and the Independent’s name is worth something there. It may not have the status of a grand “legacy brand” such as the BBC, the New York Times or indeed the Guardian, but it does have a 30-year track record – and remember that there is also room for creative newcomers. Look at Huffington Post and Vice.
So as we prepare to mourn the printed Independent (and I will mourn, having worked there in its exciting and successful early years), we are probably at a milestone. The grand tradition of printed newspapers, sometimes noble and sometimes shameful, is coming to an end. Connections that go all the way back to Gutenberg are fraying away and we will soon be left with little more than old people’s stories.So as we prepare to mourn the printed Independent (and I will mourn, having worked there in its exciting and successful early years), we are probably at a milestone. The grand tradition of printed newspapers, sometimes noble and sometimes shameful, is coming to an end. Connections that go all the way back to Gutenberg are fraying away and we will soon be left with little more than old people’s stories.
But this is the death of a redundant medium and not of a message. It is what journalists find out and write, and are able to tell their audiences and readers, that really matters – and we should not waste our energy lamenting dead-tree technology.But this is the death of a redundant medium and not of a message. It is what journalists find out and write, and are able to tell their audiences and readers, that really matters – and we should not waste our energy lamenting dead-tree technology.
Instead, if we have energy to expend, we should use it to ensure that good journalism in all its variety can survive in the new environment, which means resisting the monopolists and the stranglehold of corporations, more or less as the Independent was originally created to do in 1986.Instead, if we have energy to expend, we should use it to ensure that good journalism in all its variety can survive in the new environment, which means resisting the monopolists and the stranglehold of corporations, more or less as the Independent was originally created to do in 1986.