There are consequences for each action in the world and the consequence of the invention of digital media is the decrease in newspaper sales. There are some particular reasons why people prefer the digital media, such as the technology keeps develop, the news from the internet being free, intriguing commentaries for the news, or access to the most recent news anywhere and anytime all attracting more people to the digital media. According to these facts, saying that the traditional media is slowly coming to an end is not unpredictable.
In 1990, 3.5 million newspapers were being sold per day, in Turkey. Today, this number has reached roughly 4.5 million. However in 1990 Turkey had a population of 56 million but today Turkey’s population is nearly 80 million. 20 years have gone by and Turkey’s population raised nearly 34 million, although the raise of newspapers being sold is only 28.5%. The low raise for that is certainly because of the establishment of digital media. This statistic shows us that since the newspapers also start their own website, which established the digital media, it reflected the sales of newspapers. The only reason for the increase is the 34 million potential newspaper buyers.
The situation for newspapers is not bright nowadays; however newspapers are not the only ones who build traditional media, but also televisions and radios. Even though the loyalty towards the newspapers is decreasing, there is still enough interest towards television. Again in Turkey, the rate of watching television is 94%, and this number includes news channels and also daily news. People are able to follow the news by these channels. Also, television attracts more people than newspapers because of its visuals. Televisions and internet are nearly the same, both differing from newspapers in visual capacity and more. For example, both the internet and television are free and more recent; newspapers are the opposite.
Thus the future of the traditional media needs to be evaluated in two categories: one is newspapers, the other is television and radio. As we look at newspapers, the future does not look very optimistic because the number of people buying newspaper is decreasing day by day. However, other traditional media instruments like television, and even radio, still maintain their popularity, definitely having a more guaranteed future compared to newspapers.
Deyvi HALFON
