With the growth of television news in the 1960s, newspapers confronted their first formidable competitor. The United States' 1,600 daily newspapers continue to serve millions of readers, but newspapers are no longer the country's dominant mass medium. How to survive and even flourish in a culture more attuned to electronic media than to printer's ink is the most serious issue facing the newspaper industry as it enters the 21st century. It is safe to say that newspapers are not about to follow the Morse telegraph into oblivion.
Newspapers are a portable, convenient medium.
No one lugs a computer monitor to the breakfast table to get the morning news. And, newspapers are proving surprisingly adept at reinventing themselves for today's readers by emphasizing good design, color photography and detailed stories that report and interpret current events. Many different individuals and departments contribute to a process that resembles a river with numerous tributaries. Let's look at how these streams merge into a Niagara of words and images flowing through a computer network and onto huge rolls of paper racing through thunderous presses, all while most of us are sleeping. Inc. All rights reserved.