Evolve or die

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

There’s something a little redundant about writing a column about an essay I wrote. At any rate, please read this week’s cover story about the future of newspaper journalism. I’ve had a few people I consider experts read it, and while everyone has argued with specifics, so far nobody has told me I’m a complete idiot. I mean, not with regard to that story anyway. I’ll hear all the “complete idiot” stuff as soon as it comes out in print.

By the way, while I alluded to it in the story, there’s something I’d like to expound on here. Newspapers are just the tip of the iceberg, where the “death of media” is concerned. I truly have no reason to carry cable or satellite or even rabbit ears for television. I have not purposefully watched a single television series episode in months. Those television stations love to talk about the death of newspapers, not just because it’s news, but it also benefits them for advertisers to consider television an ascendent or the dominant media.

My television is slowly but surely checking out—something wrong with the power button. I think my next television may very well be a large, high-def monitor hooked to a laptop hooked to the internet. And I will never miss an episode of The Simpsons or The Dollhouse or a report on CNN. Put that in your cable bill and smoke it.

The only radio in my house that will play AM is in the garage. My home stereo is always tuned to satellite radio. My main local station, KRZQ, streams onto the internet, which I can get anywhere.

I can look at my own media use and tell you for a fact that changes are coming. I’m not even making choices based on finance. I get DSL for less than $20 a month. If I were to spend $600 on a television-size monitor, I could eliminate my $40 a month satellite TV bill and one of my satellite radio subscriptions, $10. Heck, that new high-def monitor would be paid for in a year. I should go for a two-year loan. Can you imagine how much better my Netflix will look on 60 inches?