{"id":5794,"date":"2017-05-07T21:34:59","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T04:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/?p=5794"},"modified":"2025-12-02T21:35:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T05:35:55","slug":"when-will-print-newspapers-die-asks-bob-schieffer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/2017\/05\/07\/when-will-print-newspapers-die-asks-bob-schieffer\/","title":{"rendered":"When Will Print Newspapers Die, asks Bob Schieffer"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Egan]<\/em><\/p>\n

During his illustrious career in broadcast journalism, Bob Schieffer has reported on the Watergate scandal, interviewed U.S. presidents, moderated\u00a0three presidential debates, anchored the \u201cCBS Evening News\u201d and hosted CBS\u2019 \u201cFace the Nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it was in print journalism where the 80-year-old Schieffer earned his reporting chops. After a stint as an Air Force public information officer, Schieffer joined the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where his most famous assignment was covering the 1963 assassination in Dallas of President John F. Kennedy.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s likely with a bit of melancholy that Schieffer foresees the imminent demise of print newspapers at the hands of the internet.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The digital revolution is \u201cdriving newspapers, as we used to know them, out of business,\u201d Schieffer said in a recent Q&A hosted in Lawrence, Kansas, by the\u00a0University of Kansas journalism school<\/a>. \u201cI think paper newspapers will come to an end in maybe even the next 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The outlook for newspapers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The outlook for newspapers is so shaky, in fact, that billionaire investor Warren Buffett\u00a0recently told CNBC<\/a>\u00a0that only two U.S. newspapers have an \u201cassured future,\u201d thanks to their solid pay-for-access internet models: The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n

He added that The Washington Post may have a shot at survival. None of those papers is controlled by Buffett\u2019s investment conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway, which owns 31 newspapers.<\/p>\n

As for the 1,300 or so other daily newspapers in the U.S., Buffett said they haven\u2019t figured out how to successfully balance their print and digital models amid declining revenue and readership for their print products.<\/p>\n

Speaking at KU, Schieffer said: \u201cWe\u2019re in the midst of this technological revolution, this digital age, that has not only just changed the way we get our news, but it\u2019s having a profound impact on our culture \u2014 I think as profound as the invention of the printing press. I really, sincerely believe that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The digital age<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In the digital age, we\u2019re being inundated with more information that at anytime in history, said Schieffer, who retired from CBS in 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut are we wiser, or are we just getting so much information we can\u2019t process it?\u201d the broadcasting veteran said. \u201cI think right now there\u2019s just so much information that we can\u2019t process it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schieffer said one downfall of our ready access to so much information is \u201chow all the nuts can find one another\u201d online.<\/p>\n

As for President Trump\u2019s favorite vehicle for dispensing information \u2014\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 Schieffer said: \u201cI would like it if the president could kind of go light on some of these tweets sometimes until he could kind of check out and see if, in fact, they\u2019re true.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the subject of Trump and truth, Schieffer said he\u2019s concerned about the credibility of the White House in light of various factual missteps, such as whether an \u201carmada\u201d of U.S. military ships recently was heading toward or away from North Korea. He bemoaned the \u201cconsiderable chaos\u201d swirling inside the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Schieffer said we want to be able to believe what the president says, as it\u2019s important for national security and for reassurance of American people. \u201cWe all want this president to be successful,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause we all want the United States of America to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schieffer took exception to the recent characterization by Steven Bannon, one of Trump\u2019s top aides, of the mainstream news media as the\u00a0\u201copposition party.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Bannon\u2019s view represents a \u201ctotal misunderstanding\u201d of the role of a free press, Schieffer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know any reporter who thinks that we are some sort of opposition party. No one thinks that. Our role is simply to ask questions and to keep asking questions until we get answers,\u201d Schieffer said. \u201cWe\u2019re not always going to be the most popular person in the room, but that is what the founders intended when they invented this wonderful system of government that we have, and I think that\u2019s what we have to continue to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Politicians, he said, deliver messages, and it\u2019s the job of journalists to question those messages.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a totalitarian society, there is only one source of news, one source of information, and that is the government,\u201d Schieffer said. \u201cIn a democracy like ours, citizens get independently gathered, accurate information \u2014 and that\u2019s what comes from the press \u2014 that they can compare to the government\u2019s version of events and then decide what to do about it. And that\u2019s what our role is, that\u2019s what the founders intended for us to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Egan<\/a>\u00a0is a writer, editor and content strategist in Austin, Texas.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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