There is an entire generation of people out there that don’t appreciate the feeling you get from a new, crisp newspaper. There is just something about the smell of ink and coffee in the morning that can’t be replaced.
Technology rolls on and it’s constantly at our fingers tips; from that first electronic buzz in the morning to tweeting a good night to John-boy, Sue-Ellen and Grand-pa. These plastic devices may be able to tell you the news in a flash of bits and gigabytes – but, can it swat a fly off your desk?
There is something to be said about a fresh newspaper straight off the presses. It becomes your physical connection with the world around you. It’s yours to hold and choose what interests you, plus, it doesn’t ask you to click ‘like’.
Newspapers have everything from hard hitting headlines to sports and comics. You can use a newspaper to make a wall between you and those who would disturb your peace and quiet. Newspapers can shelter you from a sudden downpour, shield your eyes from the glaring sun or hide your shame from the paparazzi. The printed page can line bird cages, clean windows or they can even be rolled up to smack and whack the idiotic.
If all that wasn’t enough reason to buy a daily rag; people who have a newspaper tucked under their arm are perceived as being smart, important or destined to the throne of crap town.
There was a time when newspapers stood as pillars of truth – too, bad they didn’t stand the test of time. The winds of change are ever relenting. However, I highly doubt that anyone will ever hold a computer tablet above their head and cry out: “Read all about it!”
Holding back change is like trying not to pee – eventually the damned dam is going to burst. If you don’t adapt and evolve you’ll have the marketability of a vinyl record. Coincidently, if not for hip-hop DJs scratching records backwards, there would be a whole generation that would never have heard the crackle, hiss and pop of a vinyl recording.
The sad part about instant technology is that it’s a pick one and disregard of the rest of an artist’s efforts. Easy come, easy go.
I don’t think that the newspaper will disappear completely from our society – but they too, must change with the Times, Post and Global Mail. Today, edgy and witty win the demographics. That creates a problem: how does a newspaper print with passion, grit and wit without a crossing the line of good taste?
When the word sh*t, is printed in the newspaper – readers are smart enough to know what vowel is missing. And it’s sh*t like this, that ties the hands of writers and newspapers from telling it like it is; in a language that is entertaining, colorful and used daily by people like you. But, as sure as the world turns; some petty, politically correct twit will write a scathing letter to the editor.
You would think that it was mostly little old ladies who are give editors grief – untrue. Ironically, the people who think that their sh*t doesn’t stink are the ones who want to sensor what the other ninety-nine readers may consider to be funny, entertaining and true.
I’m proud of what I write and the newspapers that find it fit print.
