Seattle Paper Shifts Entirely to the Web

The Seattle's popular newspaper, the Seattle Post-Intelligence is ceasing publication starting tomorrow. The paper published its final print and is transforming to an online-only version. Seattle P-I lost $14 million in 2008. The staff is reduced from 165 to 20 and the newspaper is reduced to little of original reporting and more of links to other news sites. It is the first one to go out of print, but surely not the last one. There are many more to follow the same path. The next in line may be our hometown newspaper - The San Francisco Chronicle! It has lost $50 million last year and may loose more this year.

Are the newspapers going out of business due to the current economic downturn? Yes, of course. The recession bug has not left any sector untouched. But maybe this was bound to happen. Maybe it is an evolutionary change. Maybe it is inevitable!

If I see myself, I read news only online. I don't care for paper newspaper. I go to my favorite bookmark news paper sites, read through the headlines and get all the news that I want in an hour or so and I don't even need to bother to recycling the paper. Are there still people who write paper letters and send paper greeting cards? Maybe few, but they are definitely the last few clinging to the old ways. Newspapers are giving way to e-papers, books are giving way to e-books, bookstores are giving way to e-stores and so forth. But is this the case with everyone? Of course not. If you go to your local coffee joint early afternoon, you will find a lot of people, typically from the older generation, reading paper and sipping coffee. Reading newspaper is an enjoyable pass time for them. They love to hold the paper, do the crosswords and cut the coupons.

All said, I still have a fascination for paper books. The same me who detest "paper" newspaper, love to read from a real book instead of an e-version of the same book. Why? Because I develop a special bond with my book. I like to hold it, open it, smell it and read it. It is personal. I agree that it doesn't have the fancy features of an e-version of the book. It doesn't have the much wanted "find" button. But still, e-book lacks the charm that a paper book has. The joy of possessing a good book, arranging it in the bookshelf is never the same as that of having an e-version of it stored in the hard disk.

Maybe there are people who feel the same way for the paper version of newspaper. Maybe they are dreading to live in a world with no real newspaper. So am I, dreading to live in a world void of real books. Maybe I should get inspired from the quote below, buy more books and bookshelves and prepare myself for the future:

"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves." ~Anna Quindlen