My friend Chris suggested that I blog about the declining popularity of the printed newspaper. I’m no expert on the subject, but I occasionally hear and read that newspaper ads are becoming less and less attractive, due largely to the added flexibility of Internet selling sites such as Craiglist and eBay. Circulation is dropping for a variety of reasons. The cost of paper continues to rise, as does the cost of delivery due to gas prices (although I’ve now seen gas for under $2 again). Presumably the cost of subscribing is also rising, but I don’t know for sure since I haven’t bought a paper in so long. I know my parents and grandparents still subscribe to a daily newspaper, although I haven’t in several years. The vast majority of my news comes from the Internet, including DallasNews.com (the online version of the Dallas Morning News), CNN.com, and MSNBC.com. I don’t watch the news much on TV and HATE local news coverage. For some, the habit of reading a paper in print form will be very hard to break. However, as the production costs continue to rise, circulation declines, and revenue falls for classified ads and commercial ads, I wonder how long printed newspapers will be around.

What do you think? Will printed newspapers still exist in 5 years? 10? 20? Also, please vote in my poll on newspaper subscriptions on the right.