Journalism should be open to online trend

Print newspapers will die.

It’s actually really simple and not that terrifying. A quick synopsis of the market:

Print usually takes up at least 50 percent of a newspaper’s budget. Most major newspapers are seeing far more readers online — up to 40 times the print in some cases. Advertising is shifting to online because it’s cheaper and gets far more looks. Advertising is what carries the newspaper business.

If the readership and advertisers are becoming more interested in online, then it only makes sense for newspapers to wise up and cut that bulky 50 percent of their spending that is holding up a media that is less popular and use it to survive.

So, sorry to all of the dinosaurs that are terrified of how people who don’t have computers will ever get their news. The business isn’t heartless, it’s just not economically feasible to keep providing in an area that’s going to drag your business to the ground.

It’s already happening. Newspapers are cutting back their readerships to outermost suburbs — which are heavily concentrated with those who don’t have computers. A few papers have just made the switch to online and no print — ever.

My generation will never buy print subscriptions when it’s available in RSS format or as a phone application. In the end, does it really matter if you can hold the print format in one hand and a coffee in the other? Just replace the paper with your smart-phone or laptop and that is the reality of the future.

Quit pouting: it’s not a “shame.” What is a shame is that people still turn to the print edition when online is so versatile and more informative. Stories can be formatted in dozens of interactive, quick-hit formats that are just flat-out better. In a matter of seconds, you can share that story with everyone you know.

Lexington Herald-Leader reporter Amy Wilson told me something that blew my mind. She and photojournalist David Stephenson worked on a project about a young boxer and the story was set to run in the paper with photos and text. But online, it was just a video they produced. No photo slideshow, no few hundred words of narratives and quotes. Just a few minutes of beautiful video and audio.

It’s still the story I told in print and it’s still my words, Wilson said.

You get that? The reporter said it’s the same.

It’s an innovative idea — one that will likely become more and more common. The longer journalists fight the Web, the longer the business is going to suffer.

I can read the New York Times any time of the day, and get the most updated version of any of their stories. On my way to Chicago this weekend, I got caught up on their governor’s scandal and the latest on the bankruptcy of the Chicago-Tribune in the car without ever spending a dollar for a paper or even stopping the car. In a matter of seconds, I can share the story with a friend or post it to my Web site.

That is the type of communication the world needs: fast, cheap and accessible. It’s also the only type of communication that will see journalism through.

Because it’s only a matter of time before the dinosaurs’ subscriptions run out and the racks remain full day in and day out. The sooner journalism catches on, the sooner it can move on.