As I was researching a completely separate subject this morning, this headline from an online-exclusive story on Newsweek.com struck me…
Can Obama Save The Media?
How the president-elect has reinvigorated newspaper and magazine sales.
You’ve got to be kidding me? Obama’s job will be to run the country, not save the media. This is a little bump in the ever-declining world of print media.
For so many people, history is something that they want to hold on to… to be a part of.
Of course, newspaper and magazine sales are on the rise following the election Obama. They were on the rise the days following 9/11. They were on the rise following the death of Princess Diana… especially in England. They are always on the rise following some historical event.
But this quote from the Newsweek article speaks volumes…
In the market for news, where the Net and 24/7 cable networks have increasingly become the first and last stop for many readers, consumers’ Obama obsession is an adrenalin shot to print media‘s sense of self-worth and self-image. The Obama story is “something the print industry has been dying to come along,” says Janice Min, Editor In Chief of US Weekly. “You can’t save and treasure a PDF file off of your computer. That’s the transcendence of print that everyone in print has talked about, a certain tangible quality that can’t be translated online for certain big momentous events.”
Did you catch it? “The Obama story is ‘something the print industry has been dying to come along.’” The election of McCain would have never lead to sold out newsstands.
The article said…
It’s at least a temporary reversal of fortune that the print industry plans to bank on up to and beyond the inauguration.
Media sales have needed a boost… especially in these recessionary times. How better to do that than to wide the wave of “Change”?
After the election, the mundaneness of news will drop back into its lull, and the honeymoon of print sales will end.
[UPDATE]
Maybe not… in stopping at the gas station this morning… the racks of The State were empty.
“Maybe not… in stopping at the gas station this morning… the racks of The State were empty.”
In other news, local Wal-Marts reported a sudden huge spike in bird-cage sales.
By: Joe on November 18, 2008
at 2:18 pm