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Article: The Internet doesn't mean the end of magazines.
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In this article, we will be referring to the burning debate about the challenge that Internet constitutes for print media, and if print media, particularly magazines, will end up disappearing because of online contents.
We start from the theory of some researchers: that the web is ephemeral by essence and that is its biggest flaw, which would mean a kind of hope for all those who advocate for print media. No one denies the debate about whether print media will come to an end with the boom of digital contents, and it is more intense than ever. Recently, The Guardian published a column by researcher and designer Lisa Maclean in which she affirms that talking about the death of magazines is sensationalist, arguing that even if the Internet and some platforms like that one the iPad represents pose a real threat, and even if traditional media have been forced to create new spaces among them, magazines will recover their strength and will not disappear because they represent the value of the tangible versus the ephemeral nature of the web.
Children are spending more and more time on the web and they are starting at younger ages; a great majority of young people state looking up information and reading about what they need on the web; print media are trying to create new spaces in the virtual territory, complaining about the crisis of advertising investments and resorting to charging their online contents as the last measure so as not to disappear; there are powerful launchings of new products and platforms like Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPad with which users can access books, magazines, news papers and blogs from all around the world for really low prices and from any place they want; and there are also the concern and the need of protecting nature and of saving paper.
Does that all mean that print media is doomed to die and that the future of communications is exclusively on the web? This is the debate that has kept a good number of experts busy during the last few years and that has become more and more important due to certain facts such as the announcement of closure of important and traditional news papers, and the decision of some others like the New York Times of charging for their online contents, among other worrying situations.
There are those whose argument present that the extinction of print media is imminent, but there are also those who believe that the idea is a utopia that will never become a reality. Researcher and designer Lisa Maclean states on her column that thinking and saying that magazines will stop to exist is really sensationalist, and that the Internet doesn’t represent their death.
Print Edition and Digital Edition
To start, the author of the column accepts that the Internet constitutes a threat to print media and that, due to the boom of online contents, they’ve had to resort to the creation of web portals and to the investment of huge amounts of money to be able to continue being part of the market and to not be left behind by technology and new generations.
Also, she thinks that the iPad platform has become one of the most dangerous threats to the big media, but advises that some situations that have already occurred are the proof to understand that the platform won’t be, in any way, a replacement of traditional information.
One example that she brings up is the recent decision of the powerful Apple, creator of the popular iPad, of modifying the contents of print publications when they have nudes in order to publish them on the digital editions. The researcher mentions how some influential magazines like Nylon, Vice and Dazed & Confused reacted, ironically describing the iPad edition as the “Iran edition”, referring to the censorship that’s experienced in the Asian country.
According to Maclean, this is the dilemma that are facing some print media: “Apple’s decision raises a serious question to the makers of cutting-edge publications: tone down content and wave goodbye to artistic integrity to make sure your seat on the bandwagon is secure, or take a stand and risk being left behind should the digital generation decide to ditch their earthly belongings and embrace a lifestyle of transient online information”.
The Tangible Versus the Ephemeral
On the other hand, the main argument of the researcher is that magazines and print media in general represent the tangible, whereas the essence of digital contents and of Internet is the ephemeral, the fleeting, the transitory. According to her, the ephemeral characteristic of the web is its biggest flaw and will not completely replace the traditional print media such as magazines.
She explains that it is more than logical to be currently experiencing a great boom of online media like blogs, digital magazines, among others, because it is an exploration period in which users have been completely immersed in all these new possibilities, but that, with time, this boom will disappear and people will go back to valuing the tangibility of print magazines.
In her own words, “The Internet is a magnificent resource and the possibility of having our primary media source composed by user-generated contents is wonderful and liberating, but will humanity ever accept the idea of having completely ephemeral media? The Internet can offer faster, relevant news and information, it can provide a multimedia experience on demand, but it cannot provide you with something tangible – and that is the fatal flaw. Humanity views ownership as a marker of status. We crave possessions because they anchor us…”
There is no final answer to this debate and there’s still a long road to walk. The opinion of this author is just one of thousands of voices that are part of this passionate debate in which everyone wants to know if, in some years, there will still be magazine sellers on the streets or if that image will be just part of the past.
Anyway, whether it is through print media or online contents, Day Translations knows that we are living in an increasingly globalized world in which there is a growing need of establishing new bonds and facilitating communication between people who speak different languages and who belong to different cultures.
That is why Day Translations is here to offer you the best quality interpretation and translation services on the market. If you need interpreters or translators, feel free to contact us any time. We will be more than happy to be of service.