50K TO STAY!
On the second day of December 1997 “down under”, the Sydney “Morning Herald” published it's fifty-thousandth edition.
Think of it! Anyway you choose to count it, that's a lot of newspapers. It started as a four-page paper on April 18, 1831.They printed seven-hundred-fifty copies.
In the anniversary edition of the paper – December 2, 1997 - the editors, in a special editorial comment which is worthy of repetition today as we look at the communications field in this 21st century.
'The newspaper,” the “Morning Herald” editors contends, “is the first draft of history and the last word on current affairs.”
As one who has worked in both the print side of journalism and in the radio/TV segments, I agree whole-heartedly with such an estimate of the enduring value of print journalism.
We have long needed a sound clarification of the potentially divisive condition in our mass communications system.. Each is essential. Each has advantages and disadvantages. Skillfully used, they can complement each other..
Remarkable strides have been made in the reporting of world news to and from extreme areas. Radio can do it faster, TV can do it with visual elements and but later as a rule, and the newspaper can print the story that evening or the next day in a “hard copy” form which can be read, re-read, re-printed and edited if new material becomes available.
There used to be a feeling among many newspaper people which urged them to leave the fast moving daily paper and buy a small town weekly paper whereon could take his own, sweet time reflecting on news events before commenting on their place and importance. There was a time when it was very worth while to skim the editorial comments of the weekly papers to know what was real and lasting for all of us in the news.
In time, the telephone, telegraph, films, radio and television brought changes to the field in general. A new dimension is now up and running with the advent of the computer. The entire procedure of producing a newspaper has been radically changed. The same can be said of radio, TV, even the small country weekly publication and magazines of every description.
The Sydney “Morning Herald” editorial is still “the first draft of history” especially as it is now augmented by the Internet editions of the paper which are becoming more and more standard. The outreach of the newspaper has been augment tremendously by Internet publication. Radio and TV make use of it, but it tends to erode some of their much-vaunted and sometimes abused claim of being: ”first.” Internet publication enables the daily newspapers, as “the holder of the “first draft of history” to be, at the same time, highly respected as the ultimate authority on current affairs with background and endless links to development.
Cash in on this wealth. Read several on-line newspapers every day!
A.L.M. November 12, 2003 [c487wds]
