Philip Meyer says the last newspaper will be printed, packed, sold, (and hopefully) bought, read, crumpled and thrown in the first quarter of the year of the lord 2043. That’s 35 years from now, but The Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin, has acted before that eventuality could take place.
The six-days-a-week newspaper has ceased ink-and-paper publication and become a 24x7x365 fullfledged 21st century internet operation since Monday, writes Roy Greenslade.
“That’s the spirit. That’s the future. That’s how it is going to be. Not everywhere at once. Not right away in every American city. Not next week in any British city. And, looking at the situation here in Australia, not in the next decade here. It’s all about the realisation that the screen is edging aside ink-on-paper journalism.”
Photograph: Staffers hold aloft the last edition of the paper (courtesy Capital Times)
Read the full article: Wisconsin ‘paper’ shows the way