Video Journalism Versus Print Journalism: An Internal Battle

With news being available on computers, phones, and televisions, the newspaper industry will continue to decline.

The first newspaper called the Publik Occurrences was published in 1690 by Richard Pierce. From this paper, a tradition was started and was essentially followed by other American newspapers. Through newspapers, the country knew what was going on around them, and people continued to indulge into periodical publications as their only source of information.

As newspapers ruled the industry for the next millenniums, radio news began to pave its way into the industry in the very early 1900s. However, at this time, newspapers were still the main source of information for people. One of the main reasons for this was that the citizens became so normalized to obtaining information from the paper on their front porches.

So, which is better: newspapers or video news? While this is a subjective question, there are concrete details about both forms of media.

Television news has the advantage of being immediate and vivid. Television news can show what’s happening anywhere in the world, now or at any other time.

However, television has disadvantages as well, one being that it’s very short on perspective and analysis. Saving time is more valued than ever and images take priority over words.

In the areas that televised reporting stumbles, newspapers are able to thrive. This is in their perspective and analysis. A newspaper can explain what happened yesterday, but it can also elaborate with additional perspectives. Newspapers have both the space for words and the time for a variety of perspectives.

Ultimately, however, this debate is a matter of preference. Some prefer to get their news quickly and immediately, while others may want to spend their time reading a physical copy of the newspaper.

These choices could also be determined by other factors such as access to these different publications. With the progress of the digital age and the access of TV news on laptops and cellphones, getting this new form of media is becoming increasingly convenient.

Another important factor that affects someone’s choice of media is age. Today, technology is everywhere. Young kids, adults, and even the elderly are interested in new technology. That could explain the decline of newspapers recently.

A lot of the younger audiences prefer new devices to get their information. Most of the elderly prefer to take the traditional route of picking up the morning newspaper from their front porches.

Scarborough, a market-based research company, did research on readers of newspaper by age. In 2015, the ages of 18-24 only had about 16% who read newspapers, the ages of 25-34 had about 17%, 35-44 had about 21%, 45-54 had 28%, 55-64 had 38%, and ages 65+ had 50%. This research shows that the older the age of a reader, the more traditional path they choose to follow in order to receive their news.

According to the Pew Research Center, 23% of American’s say they read a print newspaper. That number previously was 54% in 2004. These statistics show an evident decline in the use of newspapers due to the advancement of technology.

Additionally, Pew Research Center also states that 71% of Americans watch local television news, 65% watch network news, and 38% watch cable news. There is currently a huge gap between the amount of users of different medias.

When using numbers to answer which form of media is superior, clearly video news is currently preferred among the population. As cultural values change among the population, meaning people become more focused on efficencey rather than delving into news material, it is possible that the task of reading a paper will be unpopular.

However, as it stands today, media choices continue to be a subjective matter. There is still no correct answer. Choosing between forms of news media is a matter of personal preference.

As technology quickly grows larger and larger among audiences, it is very likely that it will continue to overshadow the majotiy of traditional news sources. It is probable that, with time, video news will ultimately prevail over traditional papers.

Despite the old relationship humanity has with traditional newspaper journalism, and although the benefits that papers can grant a community are different from video journalism, printed journalism is ultimately becoming a quality of the past.