Newspaper?

The never-ending 24-hour news cycle does make you question how much longer newspapers will still be delivered.

The death of Ted Kennedy is just a reminder of how fast we have been conditioned to get our news. I rarely share personal stories, but I woke up before 6am in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday – TV was still on FOX news from night before and they were talking about the death of Ted Kennedy. By the time The Today Show and GMA came on, the stories and videos were streaming complete with narration and archived photos. By 8am, I saw the first Facebook comments about people feeling bad for his family.

I landed in Dallas at 7pm that evening and saw more info on FOX news. Then I picked up a copy of the Dallas newspaper in the lobby of the hotel. As I was reading the front page, I realized that it was that morning’s paper and the story of Ted Kennedy’s death was not shown.

Newspapers need to be going online, but will the same masses of people go to the web to read them as are used to having them delivered? Even the post office is laying-off 50,000 people due to online bill paying and the eCommerce movement. 

What is the future of the newspaper? 

I don’t have the answer, but sure can’t wait to see.