The Onion announced Thursday, July 25, 2013 that Print, “the method of applying ink to paper in order to convey information to a mass audience,” passed away early Thursday morning.
Print is dead. Long live Print!
The obituary follows in the wake of frequent predictions that Print would soon breathe its last. From the obituary:
However, though print enjoyed a long, illustrious career for centuries, effortlessly reinventing itself countless times in order to better serve readers’ continual desire for information, in recent years observers reported that the medium was gradually slowing down its output, with both the quantity and quality of its work suffering as it struggled to keep up in a fast-paced landscape increasingly dominated by younger, more nimble channels such as the internet, email, and social media.
…
“Anyone who had seen print in recent years knew it wasn’t long for this world,” said media analyst Jeff Jarvis, pointing to the multiple setbacks that hindered print in recent years as it gradually wasted away. “I can remember a while back when I opened my Sunday newspaper for the first time in I don’t know how many weeks and there it was, looking so thin, so lifeless. After that, I realized it was only a matter of time.”
Our condolences to Print’s survivors.
So sorry to read this. Print was a wonderful companion, a faithful acquaintance, and our friendship evolved nicely, over time. But, now? Perhaps, as Marshall McLuhan said in his March 1969 Playboy interview:
“Unlike previous environmental changes, the electric media constitutes a total and near-instantaneous transformation of culture, values and attitudes.” No more Mr. Nice Guy Communications, I guess.