Is Print Old News? Magazines Going Digital Only on Take a Walk with Liss...

     My study will focus on print: the fashion magazines. Over the past several years, technology has greatly affected the distribution and consumption of the physical, hardcopy of magazines. Unfortunately, print media has lost its touch and the consumer hardly cares at all. Digital is the way to go and soon, no newspapers, magazines, or even books will be physically wanted. A couple questions have been nagging at me for a little bit, though: do the print companies make much less money now? and what will happen to the "old fashioned" way of sharing news and trends with the world? 

     The once thriving area of media that is print is now slowly but surely becoming the Jonas Brothers of my generation- great at its time, but ancient history now, replaced by a new boy band, One Direction (technological print, on computers and tablets etc.). Through some research I've found both of the answers to my questions.: "Online news consumption rose sharply the last two years, following the rapid spread of digital platforms. In fact, online was the only category of news that showed growth in Pew Research Center’s 2012 News Media Consumption survey."  and "That constant, downward pressure on digital advertising rates is a key reason many news organizations are shifting strategies to reduce dependence on advertising and increase the revenues coming from digital circulation. Over the last year, many have moved to put at least some of their content behind pay walls. Following The New York Times’s success at charging to read its content online, roughly 400 of the country’s 1,350 papers have now instituted metered payment plans or are planning to do so this year, according to Poynter. Even those previously opposed, such as The Washington Post and The Seattle Times, are considering them."(http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2013/digital-as-mobile-grows-rapidly-the-pressures-on-news-intensify/) "What is true is our industry’s business model has changed dramatically in the past half-dozen years. In 2007, 80% of newspaper media revenue was generated from advertising. In 2013, less than half of total revenue (46%) was from advertising in the daily and Sunday print newspaper. Revenue from readers paying for print and digital news and information accounted for nearly three out of ten revenue dollars, up from less than two in ten in 2007. Income from new, non-traditional sources is now rising rapidly.  

What is also true is that the public’s thirst for news keeps rising." (http://www.naa.org/News-and-Media/CEO-Update/2014-August-Newspapers-Make-Money.aspx)

     Unfortunately for us, we are like the little Guinea pigs testing out the shifting of print to digital, and those of us born mid- technological boom are torn between a nice old fashioned news paper or book or magazine, and the craving for satisfaction that advancing with technology gives us. Will our generation ever be able to pick a side?