Journalism Going Portable & Green

We’ve all noticed the decline of the journalism field. Job cuts at newspapers and magazines are rising every year, while the internet continues to expand. Now that the internet is going portable, i.e. your phone, what’s going to happen to those newspapers and magazines that so heavily relied on subscription cost?

Almost every newspaper and magazine has its respected online version and now they’re going mobile.

In this article by Damon Kiesow, he highlights one magazine’s mission to continue revenue streams by going mobile. The Atlantic plans to create a paid mobile app where readers can have access to that month’s articles.

So what does this mean for us as writers? Well, I think this is going to make it much more difficult to captivate readers.  At least when the magazine/newspaper was online, the reader had to sit in front of the computer for a while. Now the reader is on his way to work; sitting at the park (hopefully…) watching her children; at school pretending to pay attention to their professor drone on.  We, as journalists, have less time to hook a reader and they have less time to read it. We’re going to have to become more creative and maybe even shorten our articles to bite-size-need-to-know portions (small enough to fit on an iPhone screen).

As media consumers and creators, would you pay $5 a month to read your favorite magazine on your phone? If you’re green conscious you may consider it. It does save trees, right?