My colleague Ken Macro was on an airplane recently between Minneapolis and Chicago, and found himself sitting next to a man who asked his profession. “I’m a college professor,” Ken told the man; they were at cruising altitude.
And, what do you teach? the man asked. “Printing,” said Ken. To which his neighbor said, “I thought that print was dead.”
I don’t want to accuse my pal Ken of losing his temper, but I think that’s a fair description of what happened next.
Ken insisted that the man stand up. “Stand up!” he said, and the two of them stood up. Ken pointed at various other passengers aboard the plane: “Book, book, book, magazine, magazine, book, book, book, Kindle, newspaper, book, magazine…”
And then he finished it off with, “I rest my case,” and they sat down.
I hear it all the time also, and I want to say I agree with Ken. It’s hard to beat printing when it comes to people’s reading habits. I own an iPad, and I am enthralled. I have even read a few books on it, using both the Kindle Reader app and Apple’s iBook app. I found the experience to be pleasant for fiction. The day before yesterday I bought a computer software manual on the Kindle, and I tried to read it. I just couldn’t do it. There is something about a software manual that just requires a printed copy.
I am still working my way through it, but it’s frustrating. I guess it has to do with linearity and non-linearity. The software manual is non-linear while the novels I have read are linear. One is a form of entertainment, the other is a reference book.
Yep. Print is dead. Here is further evidence: these are the newspaper boxes just outside the Clarendon Metro station near Washington, D.C. 20 different news and entertainment publications have boxes there. On the other side of the station are another dozen (some are duplicates).
I also hear from various people that newspapers are dead. I am here to tell you otherwise. Our local publication, the San Luis Obispo County Tribune, is an excellent example of why newspapers are doing OK. First, there will always be newspapers as long as there are high school sports. Second, there will always be newspapers as long as there are obituaries, and third, there will always be newspapers as long as there is a Police Blotter. I live for the Police Blotter.
The Tribune does the blotter exceptionally well, publishing a column every couple of days with the transcripts of 911 emergency calls – not serious emergencies, just the silly stuff. It’s called What’s Your Emergency? and it is the highlight of my morning to read it. No one can write anything this funny. An example: a woman called 911 to report that someone had put garden gnomes on her lawn overnight.
As long as there are crank 911 calls, I will subscribe to the Tribune, and I will help keep printing alive.
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