Technology has begun to revolutionize our world, and antiquated practices like print journalism are being pushed aside. Author of Zoo Story and 1998 Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas French said the problem is not only limited to newspapers, but paper publishing in general. French visited with journalism and yearbook students earlier this month.
“No one knows what’s going to happen to print journalism or to paper. It’s not just journalism; book-publishing is really struggling right now,” French said.
Inevitably, with the Internet and devices such as Kindles and E-Readers subverting the perennial use of paper for books and newspapers, print journalism may very well become extinct, he said. As a way to begin adapting to the foreseeable future while still maintaining ties to the present methods of writing, French encouraged students to learn about the “constantly evolving media tools for different platforms, from video, to twitter, to audio.”
While French, a professor at the University of Indiana, teaches these ideas in his class, he said he recognized that there are others who do not. “I’ve heard some professors in some journalism schools tell their students ‘I hate the Internet,’” he said. “Well, why don’t you just shoot yourself in the head?”
He continued, “It doesn’t make any sense for a professor to be hostile to the internet: it’s a part of life. It’s part of the world now, and you can either try to fight it or use it as a tool.”
As the Internet begins to assume the role as the epicenter of the media and print journalism declines by effect, French said there will be little change in the process of journalism itself.
“No matter what happens, someone is still going to have to know how to go out and identify a good story, record it, come back and either write it or assemble it. Otherwise, there’s nothing for anybody to blog about; there’s nothing to aggregate. There has to be original reporting, or everything grinds to a halt. The country will not work without reporting, literally. Democracy will just stop,” he said.