Internet is Killing the Newspaper

jose parinas writes "MediaDailyNews is reporting that 2005 will go down as one of the worst newspaper years in history, and 2006 doesn't look promising. Online media is continuously generating more readership and ad dollars, but currently only accounts for 5% of total newspaper revenues."

Comments

Re:What do you expect?

[plover]

It's all pulpwood, grown expressly for the purpose of becoming newsprint. It's a farm crop, like corn or beans. And much of the newsprint is recycled, making it even less of an issue.

I'm not saying electronic delivery isn't much less of an expense (both in terms of resources and energy to make and deliver them), I'm just saying that it's not like anyone is denuding virgin forests of 200-year-old trees just to make a few bird cage liners.

Re:What do you expect?

[Daxster]

It's all pulpwood, grown expressly for the purpose of becoming newsprint. It's a farm crop, like corn or beans.

I won't deny that you have a point of newspapers using recycled paper, but I live in an area that has most profits generated from pulp mills and logging. Simply put - the trees are not on a farm, they're first-growth temperate rainforest trees. Although selective logging has been introduced, the logging companies and pulp mills are interested in profits, so many areas are clearcut when they can't be seen by the public (remote areas behind mountains, etc).
Newspapers do use a lot of resources :-(

Re:What do you expect?

[bm_luethke]

I live in an area (I live near Clahoun, Tennessee) that creates a large amount of pulpwood for newspapers and is farmed. In fact, I believe the company is the largest producer of newspaper pulp in the US (at least it was a few years back - I don't really neep up with it or anything).

The company is called bowaters and owns several million acres of property. It is some of the best hunting lands in the state for pretty much all our local wildlife (and feral wildlife also). While yes, they clear cut if they aquire new property, and always clear cut when they harvest, the replanting of the trees is about as dense as can be sustained and is GREAT for wildlife - again one of the top hunting areas in the state with both large mature animals taken and a large yearly bag limit (and it's quite expensive to hunt as well).

They allow independant and govt forresters to view thier managment and make suggestions - they even usually follow them also.

I don't know what company you are near, but it is insane to purchase old growth forrest for wood pulp. It takes specific types of trees to make and old growth forrests are not very dense. Pulp manufacturers only purchase them if they need more land, and in many cases what they do with the land is beneficial for the local wildlife in the long term. Basically old growth is horrid for paper pulp - though it is generally good for expensive lumber because of the size of boards that can be harvested.

About the worst that can be said is that the place stinks real bad when you are not used to it and the gasses released, while not damaging, make a fog so thick that you can not see past the end of the hood on your car (literally). When conditions are right it can creep out over the interstate and has caused some of the largest wrecks in US history.