OPINION
BY JAMES COLLINS, Junior
BY JAMES COLLINS, Junior
BLYTHEWOOD-The first newspaper in the US was printed on Sept. 25, 1690, called Public Occurrences written by a man named Benjamin Harris. This newspaper contained three printed pages and one blank. This was the only source of information and news given to the public during this time.
Nowadays people have so much technology to use the newspaper is often forgotten about or thrown aside. People usually find it more convenient to read the news online and able to have updated news all the time versus finding a newspaper to read.
Crawford Collins, the owner of First Choice Distributors (a newspaper distribution company) has been working with The State newspaper for over 10 years, “I find that now it seems that the newspapers are being sold to mostly older people like maybe age 50 and older. People nowadays want instant news that they can access whenever they want,” Collins said.
So the question must now be asked in the 20th century, Why are newspapers still relevant?
The first thing that needs to be discussed is the consistency of the newspaper. The newspaper has always been known to provide reliable, respectable, and honest information. Where as if someone read something online they don’t really know in some cases if it is credible or not and information online can be easily changed by anyone who has the skills to do it where as a newspaper can not be changed once it's printed.
There are also many important statistics to consider when speaking of the relevancy of newspapers. According to newswork.com, newspaper readers are more likely to know a greater amount about politics than people who choose to only rely on technology. Research has also shown that people who read newspapers are more likely to have a better understanding of what is going on in the world than those who don’t.
Also, newspapers are still relevant because many consumers want to see change and newspapers change often. The format of the newspaper has changed several times over the years. With additions like the comic section or the homeowner's section, the newspaper continues to draw in more and more consumers.
Newspapers are also very accessible. It may be hard for someone to obtain internet access wherever they go but no matter what the newspaper is accessible anywhere, anytime. Also, some websites may delete old news articles but a newspapers can be kept forever.
There are also many things inside of a newspaper that can’t be found anywhere online. Certain coupons and deals are only accessible within a newspaper. Or things like the comic section of the newspapers only can be found in the newspaper.
“I truly believe without a doubt that newspapers will still be around years from now. The industry itself is steady growing and evolving. Many people feel just simply more comfortable with reading the newspaper versus reading something online that may or may not be true,” said Collins.
Whether someone want to believe it or not, newspapers are still relevant to this day. People get so caught up in all the technology, they forgot about the simple values in life such as reading the the newspaper. The newspaper is part of our past, present, and future.
