IT was more a statement than a prediction when Jim Bellows, a legendary US editor, claimed the death of print media in 2002 when he published his memoir “The Last Editor: How I Saved the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times from Dullness and Complacency.”
He would be gone in seven years at 86, writing 30 in March 2009 but not after shaking the foundations of the US media in their twilight years when the internet and social media were booming.
At the time, Bellows acknowledged the rise of internet usage and its potential to displace print media in information dissemination. A media veteran of six decades, he ignited the print media’s last kicks by fanning the spirit of competition among them.
In effect, these competitions helped extend the life of the print media.
He had helped in the rise of legendary writers Tom Wolfe and Jim Breslin, among the many, as he jumped from one media outfit to another while his crew purveyed “new journalism”.
They had their heyday until the advent of the 21st century and Bellows proved himself correct.
Even some of the leading US publications have shrunk the newsroom.
It’s no different here.
The early signs were clear when Summit Media decided to collapse the print operation of its magazines, all considered leaders in the market until the last decade.
Imagine the local franchise of FHM, the adult magazine that used to print a hundred thousand copies monthly, crumbling quickly and losing readers who have shifted to Instagram.
On Instagram, FHM fans no longer had to wait a month to see the latest photos of, say, a VMX star—and they could view them at no cost.
In less than a decade, it’s the Philippine Daily Inquirer that has now announced it’s being merged with its more dominant online sister company.
The PDI, no doubt still one of the very few leaders in the daily print competition, no longer has command of print subscriptions. It used to be read by a million Filipinos daily during the newspaper’s glorious past.
The move, the company said, aims to preserve the more than 27 million monthly reads the combined print and online editions attract. The number makes the PDI still abreast with the other leading news outfits including ABS-CBN, GMA News, Philippine Star, Manila Bulletin, and the Manila Times.
Most advertisers migrated online, denying the print media opportunities to become profitable. They shy away from print because the industry secret that the other half of the players could only afford to print a mere 2,000 copies daily had long been out.
Billboards have also sprouted along the major highways and populous communities, snatching income from the print media, especially from the minor players.
PR agencies working for conglomerates and big companies would admit that the majority of their advertising budgets now go to digital.
Without advertising, we’ve witnessed how majority of the local media companies have shrunk.
It’s coming at a time the country is dealing with functional illiteracy.
It’s happening at a time when not a few Filipinos are being manipulated by irresponsible social media accounts.
It is because we allowed it to happen.