The Sky Is Falling

A lovely Sunday in lovely Florida. Mmmm, Sunday. But it's like Calvin says: You can never enjoy Sundays because you know you have to go school the next day. Indeed. Our lovely postseason media guide is pretty much done and ready for the First Big Edit tomorrow, so it's a Big Day for an Exciting Organization.

Just felt the need (being a journalism major, as if that counts for anything) to comment on the "dark days for newspapers." I wasn't alive, but I've read there were dark days for radio when television started to come of age, and the apocalyptic cries proclaiming the death of the medium rang from all corners of, well, the television. I'd care to disconcur; the evolution of communication mediums shows that they don't kill off each other...they just morph. News pamphlets turn into newspapers. Radio becomes more useful in a car than in a home. Internet turns television into a watch-when-you-want-to-watch experience.

Rarely does any medium completely disappear. I'd suggest most newspapers (except the four biggies) leave the national and international news reporting to CNN and The New York Times and MSNBC.com and morph back into the pamphlets of the past...become carriers of local information people use to make their lives: movie guides, TV grids, high school sports scores and schedules, play times, concert times, festivals, library hours, profiles of those small new corner restaurants, real estate listings, coupons for local spots, water parks, amusement centers, etc. Get local. Stay that way. I'll read about George elsewhere. I know, all of this is very original.