With the advent of the Internet, information became more readily available. As result, a growing number of people receive news updates from different sources other than newspapers, which used to be the main source of information a few decades ago. Consequently, many argue that newspapers are becoming obsolete. In my opinion, despite a competitive market of information, newspapers are not becoming irrelevant.
The development of the Internet posed a challenge to news organisations around the world. Previously, newspapers were one of the main sources of trustworthy information. However, several alternatives appeared as a consequence of technology, such as blogs and social media, which meant that newspapers have lost a significant amount of space and relevance in peoples lives. One of the biggest advantages of alternative media is its low cost, which meant that people could be informed of world events without having to spend a lot of money. Another advantage is that it became easier to consume news from podcasts because they require less time and attention in comparison to regular newspapers. For those reasons and more, it is easy to imagine why newspapers may run the risk of becoming obsolete.
However, a solution to those challenges appeared with the development of online news websites. With this new format, journalists could reap the benefits of technological development that made access to information easier, instead of being run over by it. Through small investments in monthly subscriptions or with advertisement revenues, news organisations were able to provide easy-to-access news articles via the Internet. The production of videos and podcasts by journalists also contributed to keeping them relevant. Thus, the digitalization of the old format was of paramount importance in order to adapt. Even a the cost of abandoning physical paper to give room for a digital format, newspapers managed to remain relevant. So far as news organizations are able to keep up with relevant changes, they will never become obsolete.
Therefore, despite the challenges the Internet posed on newspapers, their digitalization meant that they could remain relevant in today’s society. Even if some space was lost to other media formats, they are still an important trustworthy option that is not going away anytime soon.