Future of newspapers

SHAHDADPUR: The oldest mass communication medium that we are historically aware of is the print media. Human history gives us a clue that posters, banners and pictures were first used to convey messages. In the 10^th century handmade press was first established. Book printing was started in 15^th &16^th century in Europe. Mass Media at first faced a lot of restrictions because mass media emerged at the time of imperialism.

However the print media especially newspapers are considered as revolutionary in history because where they started they brought a revolution there. The emergence of print media created doubts in the minds of the rulers and they took it as a threat against their rule. The rulers presumed that people would become aware of their rights and they will challenge the authority. So most of the rulers in Europe took it as a revolt and declared capital punishment for the people involved in mass media.

Newspaper will undoubtedly survive with some further reduction of market shares. Few changes in literacy or other factors related to potential increases in readership are probably in the immediate future. Newspaper publication houses today have all modern features like the internet, four colour offset printing, electronic newsrooms and many such gadgets.

The future of newspaper could be a tablet newspaper having an LCD screen in which the contents could be collected through telephone lines or cables. Everything could be displayed on the screen at the click of a button. Another major development could be that a newspaper could be customised, and people will get to read only the things, which interests them. This way the readers will exercise a lot of control on the contents of the newspaper. But only a few people will get access to such electronic newspaper.

Syed Tahir Rashdi

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2019.

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