I remember when Wick first came back to D Magazine in the early ninties, we had lots of discussions about what made a [D] magazine story, as opposed to other media like newspapers.
My paraphrase of his answer, which has stuck with me over the years:
Newspapers break news. Magazines give you the backstory behind the news. Magazines can’t try to keep up with newspapers on breaking news, because even if they’re first, the printer and the distributor will make them late to the party.
It’s occurred to me over the past few days, partly because the idea was discussed at We Media, that we’re in, or at least moving towards a world where the internet has completely filled the role of newspapers in the mantra above.
So, are newspapers the magazines of the aughties?
(Link via Scott Chaffin.)
Another way of saying it.
And another:
The essence of what makes a great newspaper has nothing to do with paper.
It has to do with being a great community voice, reporting a story very
well, and gaining the trust of your audience and your marketers…No, I wouldn’t say that print media is on its way out. … I would say, however, that it better be very well justified
if it is going to exist. … I think we’ve seen the passing of print as
the medium of news delivery. There are plenty of examples where print
was the best we could do because it’s all we had. But the online medium
is better.
