Newspapers are dead. That seems to be the prevailing consensus, and was my own up until very recently. Newspapers provide a very important service to the local community and society as a whole. No other medium provides truly in-depth reporting of local issues. I have had my Kindle since Christmas, and it has remained at my side ever since. Much is made about the Kindle’s capabilities for making books more accessible but the implication for delivering periodical content is much greater. Newspaper readership is in free fall, unable to keep up with the growth of internet based media and revenue from advertisers fleeing the medium at an equal rate. The Kindle may change all that.
For the Kindle truly shines as a news outlet. I am currently subscribed to 3 newspapers, as well as The Economist. Each newspaper is delivered to me automatically every morning so it is always updated when I wake up. I have subscriptions to the LA Times (can’t get enough of California politics), the Boston Globe and most interestingly the London Times. Now all these publications have much of their content online for free but those days appear to be numbered.
Subscriptions cost $9.99 for most publications, which is more than free but hardly bank-breaking. However, something the Kindle lacks is a continuously updated news feed, a feature which could be refreshed frequently throughout the day using the Kindle’s 3G connection. These events could be covered with more in-depth analysis in the next day’s issue. The benefits of carrying one item to deliver all this content makes newspapers far more accessible than they are presently in paper form. The industry needs to recognize the benefits of this new format. I believe that the Kindle has the chance to save newspapers and periodicals–let’s hope it seizes this opportunity.
Chuck, I subscribe to the Kindle edition of “The New York Times – Latest News,” which comes to the Kindle several times a day. ANY update causes a new edition of the latest but it is the type of always-updated blog that, when it arrives, overwrites the previous edition. You can see it at http://bit.ly/nyt_latest
It’s $1.99 per month BUT it has only the latest news, no other sections of the NYT.
I briefly wondered about the “Mrs. Thatcher” reference and wondered if you were in the UK/Europe which doesn’t get Kindle blogs due to the high cost of wireless over there. But since this is a site that’s somewhere near or on Buston U., I guess you’re in the U.S.
Anyway, some don’t know that this updated NYT ‘Latest News’ is available as it’s not listed under newspapers.