Rambling Rhodes

They probably won't see the next decade

I actually feel sorry for a lot of the newspapers struggling today. The Internet really hit them like a perfect storm.

Newspapers traditionally prided themselves on knowing a little about a lot of things, which was fine when they controlled the information. But, with the Internet, very specialized sites and forums offer Web surfers with countless outlets that know a hell of a lot about one or two specific things. Why would you turn to a newspaper that knows only a portion of a topic, when you can go to a specialized forum, blog or other online outlet and learn everything you ever wanted to know about that topic?

So, some newspapers tried to shift gears and become more locally focused and personal, but then the Internet went and spawned FaceBook and MySpace and Twitter and others, which all excel at being local and personal, so why would you possibly want to turn to a newspaper?

I hope newspapers can find some sort of footing, but the Internet just evolves far faster than they do.