With a cover showcasing the newspapers’ once Manhattan
office and the aptly-title headline, #LastPrintIssue, Newsweek published its
final print issue dated December 31 as the newspaper shifts into digital format
effective 2013. The digital format will be renamed Newsweek Global, according
to its Editor Tina Brown.
Newsweek’s decision to go all-digital is a haunting reality
for the print community. The scare of high printing costs, diminishing print readership
and consumers’ continuing shift for things convenient and digital have finally
placed things into perspective. Will print bow down to its digital sibling, a medium slowly conquering the reign of the former’s turf? Will print be a thing
of the past in the next fifty years? How much will the last Newsweek issue’s
worth be as it will be auctioned as a decade memorabilia?
Hopefully, Newsweek’s shift will be an isolated case, rather
than a growing trend. Print , per
personal opinion, is still a valuable medium.
As David Guerrero BBDO Guerrero/Proximity Philippines Chief
Creative Officer pointed out , “If you’ve got something important to say, say
it in print.” Additionally, print, as described in Jim Aitchison’s “Cutting
Edge Advertising”, is the “only medium [you] can hold and touch.” When you grab
a paper, scan through the pages and read the contents, you are actually making
a choice to have an intimate conversation with the print. Renowned adman Neil
French further emphasized the value of privacy in print. “The relationship between your
eye and the page is a personal one,” French stated. “That’s why people get
stroppy when you read over their shoulders. It destroys the privacy of the
moment.”
That intimate relationship – between the newspaper and the reader
– is something the digital medium offers in a less convincing manner.
People, it’s time to rekindle that intimacy. Start reading
more newspapers!
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