Move Over Print Media, Here Come the E-mags
While both national and local TV stations are still the primary medium used to retrieve news, Americans are shifting towards a new trend that could eventually eliminate print altogether. This means, from an ecological perspective, less waste. Photo: Flickr/wietse?
Sitting down at the breakfast table with a cup of coffee and the Sunday paper may become an ancient ritual just a few years from now, especially as more Americans find themselves reading news online instead of in print.
According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the Internet has already become the third most popular news source in the country. More than ever before, Americans are getting their news from RSS feeds, Twitter listings and Web sites that offer online editions of their print features.
The Pew Internet and American Life Project revealed that Americans use anywhere between two to five Web sites each day to get their news, though 21 percent visit only one Web site to retrieve all their information.
While both national and local TV stations are still the primary medium used to retrieve news, Americans are shifting towards a new trend that could eventually eliminate print altogether. From an ecological perspective, this could mean less waste.
According to the EPA, in 2006, 88 percent of newspapers were recycled while the recycling rate of magazines was less than half at 41 percent.
In July 2008, the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) launched a public education campaign that encouraged readers to recycle magazines. The incentive for starting such a program was an alarming statistic, which revealed that only 20 percent of the American population recycles magazines, even though two-thirds of all readers have the community resources available to recycle.
At the time, MPA said in a press release that “increasing magazine recycling will reduce the amount of new fiber that must be obtained from wood, meaning that fewer trees can be harvested to produce a given quantity of paper or board product.”
But as we reported a few weeks ago, the advent of Apple’s iPad may cause a shift in these concerns as the tablet computer may serve as the electronic platform struggling print magazines have long been waiting for.
On March 1, Condé Nast announced that it will be testing iPad versions of Wired, GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Glamour. If all goes well, these magazines may be accessible on the iPad as early as this upcoming summer.
This transition has been an ongoing experiment with Condé Nast, especially since print publications have been suffering from advertising cutbacks and regular layoffs.
GQ will make its first appearance in iPad tablet version in April, followed by Vanity Fair and Wired in June. The New Yorker and Glamour are expected to go live at some point this summer, and all digital versions of the magazine will be available for purchase on iTunes.
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- Magazine Publishers of America(07/29/2008). Please Recycle Magazines Campaign http://www.magazine.org/environment/21345.aspx.
- Jacqui Cheng. Ars Technica(03/01/2010). Internet overtakes print in news consumption among Americans http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/02/internet-overtakes-print-in-news-consumption-among-americans.ars.
- Sarah Parsons. Inhabitat(03/01/2010). Condé Nast to Roll Out iPad Versions of Wired, GQ and Other Magazines http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/03/01/conde-nast-to-roll-out-ipad-versions-of-wired-gq-and-other-magazines/.
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Here Come the E-mags for iPad
posted on March 5th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
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