Print Media's Relevance as a News Source Is Waning

Back in the day, people used to read their morning newspaper to keep up with current events. Nowadays, in the age of Twitter, smartphones and real-time information, once you pick up a newspaper, the events reported in it are hardly considered current anymore. The way people consume news has shifted radically over the past two decades and newspapers are the main victims of that tectonic shift.

According to data published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, very few people consider print newspapers their main source of news anymore. Today's most important news sources are television and online media, with social networks taking on an increasingly large role in people's news consumption.

As people turn to other media outlets as their primary source of information, print newspapers are probably best advised to accept their new role and focus on their core strengths, which are local reporting, investigative journalism and in-depth analyses of national and global affairs.