| Ever since John Gutenberg invented the Printing Press, | | | | interactivity (DeFleur and Dennis, 1998). But the |
| the printed word has been shaping the civilization of | | | | disadvantages that would result from the wholesale |
| the world. All print media share one common | | | | substitution of print by electronic media make it rather |
| characteristic i.e. they are composed of words | | | | unrealistic to assume that the new technologies will |
| inscribed on paper by ink. Their form is strikingly | | | | displace print as a major medium of dissemination, at |
| different from the flowing signs and images of | | | | least in the foreseeable future. On the contrary, the |
| televisions and films. For much of their history books | | | | arguments put forward in favor of electronic systems |
| have been controversial because of their content | | | | suggest that there would be considerable need for |
| rather than their form. In an age when new electronic | | | | and demand for those back up mechanisms provided |
| channels of communication are taking hold, the | | | | by print media. There will be many areas where |
| question been heard is “will the book | | | | electronic systems might be very useful, but the need |
| survive?” The television set & the | | | | for print on paper will continue. In fact far from |
| computer epitomize the electronic challenge to books. | | | | threatening the viability of print, the emergence of a |
| However, matter that is intended to be read as a | | | | whole new spectrum of technologies alongside print |
| whole and that can command an audience will | | | | may increase rather than decrease the use of printed |
| continue to be more effectively disseminated in | | | | formats, by generating many new opportunities for |
| traditional book form – inexpensive, compact, | | | | those communication activities for which print is most |
| portable, requiring no equipment to use and easy to | | | | suitable. Such an interaction already exists between |
| handle & read (Singel, 2000). | | | | television and books. For example, an author whose |
| The real competition between books and | | | | book has been put on television can look forward to |
| computer-based information technology might be in the | | | | vastly increased sales, if it has been well presented. |
| field of those books which are designed to be | | | | On the other hand many popular television soap |
| consulted rather than read (i.e. reference books) from | | | | operas may be subsequently also published in book |
| which reader seeks specific item or concise element | | | | form. Similarly a complementary relationship already |
| of information rather than extended text. Dictionaries, | | | | exists between online bibliographic data based |
| encyclopedias, directories, etc are examples of these | | | | systems and full text in printed form. Publishers are no |
| kinds of books. The information in such books is of | | | | longer restricted to using only paper, but can also |
| course a database. It can reside on a magnetic | | | | publish on-line, on CD-ROM, on film, on interactive laser |
| memory in a computer as well as in printed form. | | | | discs. Publishers of electronic information offer search |
| “Looking up” these books by online | | | | facilities & access to specific sections in their |
| access to a database is more practical and widely | | | | publications, maintain databases of their own |
| used. The superiority of these systems lies in their | | | | publications on the Internet. |
| indexing power which facilitates easy retrieval of | | | | A new environment is emerging where a variety of |
| relevant pieces of information | | | | media co-exist. But the print media will continue to hold |
| Newspapers are another important component of print | | | | its own unique position, a position which will never be |
| media. They are facing stiff competition from | | | | threatened by the onslaught of the electronic media. In |
| electronic media. In the good old days there used to be | | | | fact print publishers have much more to gain than to |
| a couple of news bulletins in the day, but now there | | | | fear from the new technology. The new technologies |
| are channels exclusively devoted to news. These | | | | will substitute for print in certain areas that lie along the |
| news channels “break” news around the | | | | margins of print’s competences. But their |
| clock. It’s the era of “live | | | | principal will be, on the one hand to afford kinds of |
| coverage”. This is probably one area where | | | | information dissemination not possible by the use of |
| newspapers however hard they try can never | | | | print and hence not previously available, and on the |
| compete with the electronic media (Hills, 2001). | | | | other, to make the production, marketing and delivery |
| However the fact remains that newspapers still | | | | of printed works much more economical and efficient |
| constitute the cheapest and most efficient media for | | | | (Mead, 2000) |
| mass communication. Newspapers fulfill a very | | | | References |
| important role in forming public opinion. It is the public | | | | DeFleur, M. L. & Dennis, E. E. (1998). Understanding |
| opinion which keeps the wheel of democracy turning. | | | | mass communication. Boston: |
| On a lighter note it may be said that nothing can be | | | | Houghton Mifflin. |
| more satisfying than “holding the paper in your | | | | Hills, P. (2001). The future of the printed word. London: |
| hand, browsing through the various sections in the | | | | Open University Press. |
| paper, page by page, column by column. This, | | | | Mead, M. (2000). Print media: a bright future. Information |
| accompanied by a piping hot cup of tea is a daily | | | | Today, 13(5), 57-62. |
| morning ritual for many. | | | | Singel, S. (2000). Books, libraries and electronics. New |
| New electronically-based technologies offer unique | | | | York: Knowledge Industry |
| advantages for information transfer –flexibility, | | | | Publications. |
| rapid delivery low-cost, compact storage and | | | | |