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News Smart Talk Farewell Publishing--Radio Smart Talk -- Tuesday, July 28
News Smart Talk Farewell Publishing--Radio Smart Talk -- Tuesday, July 28
| Farewell Publishing--Radio Smart Talk -- Tuesday, July 28 |
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| Monday, 27 July 2009 13:52 |
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 Are we reading less than we used to, or are we simply abandoning the printed page? Much has been made (and discussed here on this program) about the decline of the traditional daily newspaper – much the same could be said for the traditional publishing industry, from books to magazines. With content becoming increasingly available online, what's to become of the Houghton Mifflins of the world? What about weekly magazines? Are we closing in on a time when libraries will be filled with file servers, and no printed material?
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GUESTS: Tom Allen, President & CEO, Association of American Publishers Tim Regan-Porter,President, Paste Media Group Garrett Kiely, Director, University of Chicago Press Comments (9)
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written by Shirley Ketrow , July 28, 2009, 10:20:18 AM At the age of 60 I have seen the quality of print media deteriorate. The dearth of good journalists of the Muurrow-Cronkite era has impacted our news media. That said, I can handle reading newspapers on-line. However, books are sacrosanct. I cannot read them off a computer screen. I want to lovingly hold a book in my lap, enjoy the written word jumping off the page as my mind paints pictures as I get lost in a world of imagery. Besides, my cats can't curl up on a hand held device as well as they can on my book when they seek my attention. They know when book is in hand they get to curl up on book first, then lap and nap away as I enjoy my favorite pasttime. Please, don't take away my greatest luxury! report abuse
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written by John Harvey , July 28, 2009, 10:30:48 AM I have a Kindle and buy many books for the Kindle. However, there are several types of books that do now work well on digital book readers. One example is computer and science books which have a lot of tables and graphics. Amazon has put out a DX version which is supposed to work better with these types of books. However, the DX is very expensive. The other type of books which does not work well is photography books. These will not work well until color comes to ebook readers. report abuse
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written by Sandi Davis , July 28, 2009, 10:44:16 AM The previous caller asked about reading on the radio. XM radio has several channels that have reading services. These channels read books - I believe they are around the 140's. report abuse
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written by Steven in Abbottstown , July 28, 2009, 10:56:22 AM The death of the printed word would be a travesty. Censorship of electronic media could be easily implemented by the government or some other quasi-governmental electronic nanny, far more so than with existing, printed texts. Imagine during the early years of the Nazi party in Germany if, rather than having to bother with bonfires to destroy literature the government could just erase the texts. report abuse
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written by Richard Orwig , July 28, 2009, 11:33:34 AM Thanks for your series on technological effects on information industries such as newspapers and publishing. I am reminded of Marshall McLuhan’s “The Medium is the Massage.” [his intentional typo for “message”]: Before the internet, the business perception of value used to be tied to the medium (e.g., hardbound vs. paperback, quality of the paper, etc.) and the publisher’s priced newspapers, magazines, and books more toward the cost of production rather than the value of the content. Customers’ perception of value was tied to the glitz and quality of the media as well as the content. Technology is requiring us to better quantify the content and value of the services provided by companies rather than the media that carries the content. There is value in helping customers save time in identifying talent and organizing content to help customers make choices. In order to survive, companies will have to erase old assumptions about value and derive new schemes for pricing content (the “massage”) instead of the medium. While customers want the content to be free and always downloadable on the internet, giving away free massages is not a good business model in a “you get what you pay for” business world. Both producers and customers of content are going to have to work harder at identifying the characteristics that determine value of the massage and determining what is good versus not as good. I apologize for this lengthy message. But I felt I needed to set the framework for the question I would have liked to ask: What are publishers doing to study customers’ perceptions of content value? How many customers own classics that they have purchased and never read? Which type of customers do publishers expect to have in the future? Thank you for your thought-provoking show! Sincerely, Richard Orwig Associate Professor, Information Systems Susquehanna University report abuse
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written by John , July 28, 2009, 12:31:51 PM Censorship of online media is impossible. If the United States Government wanted to censor a website, the organization could move out of the country. The government does not own the internet and it would be impossible to govern it. report abuse
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written by John , July 28, 2009, 12:35:22 PM Imagine if during the quasi-government party, prisoners of Nazi concentration camps could upload the horrid events online and immediately be in touch real-time with the American people. Would we have stormed Germany sooner? You bet - could that written text make it to Washington DC - nope report abuse
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written by Edward A. Dellinger , July 29, 2009, 09:55:45 AM The farewell series mat miss an important issue for thier previous successes. Economy isn't a main ingredient. The mids of human think in two senses minimum,objectively. Magazines; the mind sees subjective symbols letters and numbers. Radio; hears sounds but sees no faces. TV sees images and hears sounds, but minds know are abstracts not entirely real --- a human cannot sense touch in the image. All this subjectivity is most confusing, wasting minds limited space for each days objective perceptions, thus a contribution to memory. The printing, recording, industries served a purpose. No longer the case with modern electronics(information is now current)less expensive, See Menstroika anxiety mutation in progress. Thank you E A Dellinger report abuse
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written by Remy , January 14, 2010, 04:01:28 PM I work indirectly with the magazine industry. I can tell you that draws for magazines as a whole, magazine size, and advertisements that push these have dropped significantly in the past few years. I am really afraid of what the E-readers and new media will spell for the industry as a whole. Lost business equals lost revenue equals lost jobs. If a printer has nothing to print some relatively large businesses that service the magazine customers will fail. From National Distributors to Logistics industries in general will be impacted. I'm not suggesting that printed material will fall completely to the way side but with the digital age upon us, I do expect that the increase in E-info will rapidly override the need for magazines and printed matter in general. report abuse
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