Save the Newspapers! Or Not.

A funny, dry dissection of the value of a print newspaper—perfect for snowed in Washingtonians who aren't getting their print papers, and probably don't care because it's all online anyway:

Via BoingBoing.

Comments

[Citizen Nothing]

Produced by the Ontario Education Authority?
There's some kind of ironic lesson here, somewhere.

[Citizen Nothing]

Sorry: Ontario Educational Communications Authority.

[Citizen Nothing]

Sorry. That was the Ontario Educational Communications Authority.

So when newspapers are gone, at least we'll have the communications authorities.

[Mike Laursen]

That was awesome!

[BeesInTheBrain]

Hmmm, if I wasn't so lazy I would make a film adaptation of the Lorax with a newspaper playing the part of the Thneed.

[SxCx]

Music by The Ex featuring Getatchew Mekuria.

[dan bloom]

I coined the term snailpapers for print newspapers, as a term of endearment actually, and a good oped on this will appear in a major US newspaper, er, snailpaper, next week. I will link here later. Meanwhile, see my blog for definitions of what a snailpaper is. This vid was great.

[dan bloom]

[Dan Bloom is a former editor of the Capital City Weekly who now blogs
from Taiwan. He can be reached at [e-mail]]

I want to introduce you today to the word "snailpapers." What's a
snailpaper, you ask? These are the paper newspapers we read every
day with news that is often 12 hours old by the time it reaches us.
Inside, the news is even older.

Maybe you are reading this commentary
in a snailpaper right now, too. Then again, you might be
screen-reading it on an Internet platform.

I want to be very clear from the outset about one thing: I am
using the term "snailpaper" as a term of endearment for the daily
print edition of our local newspapers. I am on the print edition's
side.

I am a paper man. I was born with paper and I will die with paper. I
delivered newspapers on my bicycle newspaper route as a kid in the
1950s, and I still read my local snailpaper every day now in my early
60s. I love my snailpaper. Please do not take it away from me, O Digital Age!

So let's be clear. I am using "snailpapers" as a warm loving term,
not in derision. So wipe that smirk off your face right now! I am not
dissing or dismissing paper newspapers. As far as I am concerned,
snailpapers make the world go around. me!

[dan bloom]

Now, of couse, I am employing some humor here, and hopefully it will be seen
as humor, to help us all get around the current

"paper-rock-scissors-print-screen" boondoggle we are now facing.
Although I know that Walter Benjamin once famously said that "hope is
for the hopeless", I hope Mr Benjamin was wrong about print
newspapers. I want to see them survive.

As I said, I grew up in Massachusetts on print newspapers. The

Springfield Union, the
Springfield Republican, the Boston Globe, the New York Times on

Sundays. I read the Juneau Empire for 12 years when I lived there, and when
I wasn't reading the Empire on paper, I was flipping through the pages
of the Anchorage Dail News, the Anchorage Times, the Nome Nugget and
the Fairbanks
Daily News-Miner when I lived in other parts of Alaska.

Like I said, I grew up on newspapers and I
intend to die with them. In fact, I am hoping my brief three-sentence
obituary -- headlined "Snailpaper

Coiner Dies" -- will appear in a brief notice in a real paper

newspaper rather than just on some pixelated screen somewhere in the
blogosphere.

Give me my daily snailpaper or give me death!

I realize, of course, that we are witnessing a vast literary shift

right now from paper to screens, the
ramifications of which we cannot yet fathom. But think about this:

while paper is not a priori better or worse than screens, just
different -- and vivre la difference! -- what the future holds for

snailpaper readers is food for thought.

[dan bloom]

That's why I recentlyu coined this new word: "snailpapers". I love them. I

don't want to see them go.

So as you turn the pages of the Juneau Empire today, scanning from

story to story, clipping out articles

you like or that the state legislator you work for asked for -- and

underlining important sentences like this one -- remember
this: newspapers weren't born yestertday. They were born long ago.
Should we bury them so soon? It will be a sad day when the last print

newspaper leaves the shop. Ask former Empire editor Carl Simpson. Ask
former News-Miner editor Kent Sturgis. Ask former ADN editor Howard
Weaver.

Ask Andy Rooney of "60 Mintues" or Ben Bradlee at the Washington Post or Bill
Keller at the New York Times.

Let me conclude this love letter to print newspapers everywhere like
this: we must do all

we can to preserve the daily snailpaper, and if humor can help us get
over the hump and through the current malaise, then this newly-minted

coinage might serve some small purpose, even if as a

small historical footnote to the slow death of what we all once loved
and cherished -- that thing called paper.

Long live snailpapers everywhere, from sea to shining sea. They play

an important role in our lives, and if nothing else,

yes, we can still use them to line the birdcage or wrap fish during
the Salmon Derby.

As you can see, I am fishing for reactions here.

[dan bloom]

A SLATE V newspaper video titled BUY ONE ANYWAY (complete transcript here, transcribed by me, today)

NARRATOR:

titled ''Save The Newspapers!'' Slate V Urges You To "Buy One Anyway"

http://slatev.com/player.html?id=28885123001

We all do it. You're on your way to work and you mean to pick up a
newspaper, but maybe you're running late, or your hands are cold and
you figure you'll skim the website later, or buy one tomorrow, you
tell yourself.
But have you ever considered who you're hurting?

Through no fault of of their own, many newspaper professionals are
trapped in a dying industry.
That's why we've created "Buy One Anyway" -- a foundation that
encourages people like you to purchase newspapers daily, even though
no-one wants to read them anymore.

For just pennies a day you can clothe, feed, and shelter newspaper
professionals like:

- A 37-year-old photo editor from Michigan

- A metro reporter with 15 years experience

- An award-winning sports reporter who's periously close to writing
his last [packy] metaphor

Look into those eyes, that's real pain you're seeing.

So head to our wesbite and sign up for a subscription for any one of
our participating newspapers. Once payment is made, we'll send you the
name, bio, and snailmail address of
of the newspaper professional your donations are supporting.
You'll see firsthand the impact that you are are having on his or her life.
It's the best decision you'll ever make.

I won't even skim the headlines. But it's good to know that a
copyeditor in Nebraska will have something warm to eat tonight.
And just because I don't get my news from it, doesn't mean it's not useful.

So don't wait a second longer. These professionals need your help. For
the price of one cup of coffee you can help continue a career or at
least
ensure a few more weeks to polish a resume.

[dan bloom]

A SLATE V newspaper video titled BUY ONE ANYWAY (complete transcript here, transcribed by me, today)

titled ''Save The Newspapers!'' Slate V Urges You To "Buy One Anyway"

We all do it. You're on your way to work and you mean to pick up a
newspaper, but maybe you're running late, or your hands are cold and
you figure you'll skim the website later, or buy one tomorrow, you
tell yourself.
But have you ever considered who you're hurting?

Through no fault of of their own, many newspaper professionals are
trapped in a dying industry.
That's why we've created "Buy One Anyway" -- a foundation that
encourages people like you to purchase newspapers daily, even though
no-one wants to read them anymore.

For just pennies a day you can clothe, feed, and shelter newspaper
professionals like:

- A 37-year-old photo editor from Michigan

- A metro reporter with 15 years experience

- An award-winning sports reporter who's periously close to writing
his last [packy] metaphor

Look into those eyes, that's real pain you're seeing.

So head to our wesbite and sign up for a subscription for any one of
our participating newspapers. Once payment is made, we'll send you the
name, bio, and snailmail address of
of the newspaper professional your donations are supporting.
You'll see firsthand the impact that you are are having on his or her life.
It's the best decision you'll ever make.

I won't even skim the headlines. But it's good to know that a
copyeditor in Nebraska will have something warm to eat tonight.
And just because I don't get my news from it, doesn't mean it's not useful.

So don't wait a second longer. These professionals need your help. For
the price of one cup of coffee you can help continue a career or at
least
ensure a few more weeks to polish a resume.

[elen]

A SLATE V newspaper video titled BUY ONE ANYWAY (complete transcript here, transcribed by me, today)

titled ''Save The Newspapers!'' Slate V Urges You To "Buy One Anyway"

We all do it. You're on your way to work and you mean to pick up a
newspaper, but maybe you're running late, or your hands are cold and
you figure you'll skim the website later, or buy one tomorrow, you
tell yourself.
But have you ever considered who you're hurting?

Through no fault of of their own, many newspaper professionals are
trapped in a dying industry.
That's why we've created "Buy One Anyway" -- a foundation that
encourages people like you to purchase newspapers daily, even though
no-one wants to read them anymore.

For just pennies a day you can clothe, feed, and shelter newspaper
professionals like:

- A 37-year-old photo editor from Michigan

- A metro reporter with 15 years experience

- An award-winning sports reporter who's periously close to writing
his last [packy] metaphor

Look into those eyes, that's real pain you're seeing.

So head to our wesbite and sign up for a subscription for any one of
our participating newspapers. Once payment is made, we'll send you the
name, bio, and snailmail address of
of the newspaper professional your donations are supporting.
You'll see firsthand the impact that you are are having on his or her life.
It's the best decision you'll ever make.

I won't even skim the headlines. But it's good to know that a
copyeditor in Nebraska will have something warm to eat tonight.
And just because I don't get my news from it, doesn't mean it's not useful.

So don't wait a second longer. These professionals need your help. For
the price of one cup of coffee you can help continue a career or at
least
ensure a few more weeks to polish a resume.

[dan bloom]

Bill Keller is in this new humor song too. free listen funny A snailpaper logo
is now my album cover here .....and listen to silly
song here at mp3 link on blog. FUN! -- danny

[dan bloom]

http://zippy1300.blogspot.com/.....ng-in.html

[dan]

song