From a Turbo Charged Reading
perspective:
In order to read a
full sized newspaper you may have to stand up and back away a little
in order to see both
pages or you could train yourself to see the four corners of one page
and then slide across
to the four corners of the next page.
In full TCR mode TCR
the full paper for a couple of reasons; firstly you are educating
your body, your mind
and your emotions and energy to read in this way
and secondly you never
know when that unusual spontaneous bit of information
might gain you brownie
points.
After TCR the whole
paper, then go back and read the articles that interest you
in the prescribed manner
– omitting the memory stage unless it is relevant
for some reason.
When you return home
go through the newspaper again and it will probably feel like
old news as during the
day you’ve probably had conversations or heard the radio etc.
Also the major news
stories evolve over a number of days and this is like building up
your understanding and
recall in layers; therefore a story that you may not yet have paid particular
attention to will have its previous day’s information stored in your innermind.
Just to prove your
success, if you have a week old newspaper that you each word read
then review that paper
and see how much you actually recall and compare that
with a week old
newspaper that you Turbo Charged Read.
A DOUBLE ESPRESSO AND THE FT: CAN NEWSPAPERS SURVIVE?
I am
not a reluctant adopter of new technology, as in many ways publishing apps can
significantly
enhance and enrich readers’ experience above and beyond what is possible in
print. Newspapers and magazines can now be easily accessed through tablets and
e-readers
such
as Kindles and iPads and in most instances, a greater depth of knowledge
and
quality of entertainment can be achieved through such platforms.
That
said, there is also something very special about sitting down and reading a
print-based magazine or newspaper. I thoroughly enjoy at weekends reading the
Sunday Times
and
the Financial Times (FT) Weekend, and the Telegraph and FT during the week.
Their
very likely long-term demise in print form is, therefore for me, somewhat
depressing.
My
local newspaper seller has stated quite emphatically that selling newspapers
has
little or no
profit. The debate about the decline of newspapers, however, is not new –
it has
been highlighted since televisions became a mainstream technology
and
readily affordable in the 1970s.
But am
I becoming a rare breed – one who obtains psychological enjoyment from sitting
down
with a
nice cup of tea or good double espresso and reading the papers? I fear that I
am.
Should
I lament the demise of newspapers or celebrate the rich content of the new
e-formats?
Since
the 1990s, aside from the loss of industrial media and the fragmentation caused
by digital
and
social media, the falling sales of newspapers has been caused by a number of
critical
and
interdependent factors:
The
rise in free newspapers, such as the Metro and the London Evening Standard.
The
emergence of important sources of news from the web, such as the Huffington
Post.
Demographics:
within an ageing population, young people simply do not secure their news
from
papers and the older generation complain that newspapers are too expensive.
The
price and investment involved in generating articles, printing and distribution
print media.
The
web’s dominance in classified advertising e.g Gumtree and Craigslist,
hence
loss of vital sustaining revenue from newspapers.
Numerous
news sources and the growing popularity of tablets and smartphones
as
vehicles for accessing news and information.
The
growing disinterest of much of our own population in learning about global
events.
Twitter’s
rise in popularity and use has fostered a twitter-like superficiality
in
accessing and understanding news.
Growth
in the visual entertainment and news through platforms such as YouTube.
It is
probably accurate and fair to state that the younger generation are less
inclined
or
motivated to read newspapers or paper-based journals. Indeed, a significant
minority
of the population are sadly disinterested in hard news, replete with
geopolitical crises
and the actions of nihilistic extremists in the Middle
East. The malaise that many people feel towards global and
national news is partly due to realisation that they themselves can do little
to influence events and partly due to the sheer and overwhelming negativity of
news.
This of course may be the social, economic and geopolitical reality,
but
for many it is just too much “doom and gloom.”
When
you factor in conspiracy theories in this context, newspapers as vectors of
negativity
do not
really stand much of chance in the long term.
It
would, however, be somewhat misleading to suggest that younger people have
significantly
less
interest in news, per se. It may be more accurate to suggest that interests and
accessibility
to
information have changed so much over the last 15 years that priorities have
shifted,
along
with the way news is accessed, digested, and disseminated. What definitely
seems to have changed is the shift away from in-depth analysis to concise
articles, which highlight the saline points of interest. In the UK, in paper
form, this has been manifested in the ‘I’ newspaper,
a
sister publication of the Independent. Many people under 40 that I have
spoken with,
even
in a professional capacity, seem less inclined to want to understand the
factors and drivers behind a specific news event or the associated
ramifications and interdependencies.
Apathy
towards in-depth analysis of news and features is probably a function of
technology-driven media, which constantly communicates stories in a
twitter-like format.
It is
after all, somewhat difficult to read an in-depth review on a smart phone.
We
constantly check our messages, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts, amongst
others,
and as
slaves to social media, we simply do not have time to read in-depth reviews.
Loss
of interest in newspapers and in-depth analysis has also been compounded by a
growing interest in celebrity, gaming and superficial forms of entertainment,
which normally distract
and
insulate from the harsh reality of the world. Quality newspapers and
journals, such as the Economist, also offer more in-depth analysis of events
and require their readers’ attention
for
more than we’re used to. This is also another reason why newsprint and
many quality journals will eventually become digital. The question then arises
that if people have
less attention span than their parents and if the social
media generation is less inclined to read
in-depth
articles, then what is the future for digital news formats?
Will
they adapt by offering more numerous and concise articles, in effect, ‘speed
reads’
for
their time-constrained consumers?
It is
also fair to point out that if a generation of people who have experienced the
thrills
of
gaming through the web now have access to huge amounts of information and
knowledge, then why would they wish to read newspapers and economic/political
journals?
Much of this information is available for free in places such as Wikipedia,
YouTube
or through dedicated blogs.
Why
would you want to limit your experience to a static two-dimensional page in a
newspaper about two planes colliding, when you can actually experience the
event visually on YouTube
and
share it with friends and associates?
There
is no real competition once one assimilates visual media.
There
is no doubt that digital or e-versions of newspapers and journals provide
incredible
opportunities to develop stories, create animation, and allow the reader
a much
richer reading and learning experience.
So
what do I conclude? I recognise that my desire and enjoyment in reading a
quality newspaper
or
journal is partly habit-based and partly rooted in the false security of the
past.
The
halcyon days of reading current news in the form of a newspaper are clearly
over.
But as
someone who accepts Darwinian adaptation, even when badly applied to
non-biological concepts, I just hope that digital formats embrace in-depth and
contextual analysis.
Digital
formats should be able to take readers across a spectrum of analysis, allowing
those
who
wish to skim the surface as well as those who wish to fish deeper into the
waters
the
same sense of satisfaction.
John
Dalton
Director
of LSP
http://blog.publishing-school.co.uk/uncategorized/a-double-espresso-and-the-ft-can-newspapers-survive/
Michael
Why is it always the new generations fault?
I know more people in their early twenties like me that
read than people of 40 and over.
My generation is more creative, inquisitive and interested
in learning and in exploring
our own culture & heritage. We instigated the revival
of vinyl record sales for example.
I'd also bet we march more on Westminster than this
author.
If things are so awful, why did your generation let it
happen?
This feels suspiciously similar to the repetitive mantra
"your generation has it easy."
I heard that growing up as an adolescent during periods of
historically low employment for young people, from a generation that walked
straight out of university into a job and enjoyed the eighties boom, yet
recklessly ruined the planet, ruined the economy and voted for Margaret
Thatcher.
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