What kind of invention is the newspaper today? I suppose that looking back, there was a time when newspapers made complete sense. Speaking of making sense actually probably even misses the point. Newspapers had a revolutionary impact on society the way the Internet does today. Before the invention of print technology, news only travelled by word of mouth or via letters. For centuries, the newspaper served its purpose and spread information and increased knowledge throughout society, in an exponential manner linked to levels of consumerism and capitalism in various countries. But today? Does it continue to make as much sense as it did in the 17th century or even 20 years ago? Our thirst for knowledge and information continues to increase, but so does our ability to receive and read news in alternate formats. Consider what I see as the shortcomings of newspapers.

First, their size and format. I am quite certain there must have been a good reason to select this oversized format in the first place, but I do not know it. Nor do I presently understand it. Most people reading newspapers often seem to me to be fighting with their paper rather than engaging in a communal activity. A sort of aggression seems to take place, the reader struggling to tame this stubborn and reluctant stack of organic material. Many newspapers are today experimenting with a reduction in size, and for good reasons.

Second, the environmental aspect of newspapers. I personally find them dirty but I’ll happily dismiss this observation as a result of a mild case of OCD…What is however certain, is that, in a world of degrading environmental conditions and resources, we probably do not need the additional strain created by this absurdedly large consumption of wood products and by the printing process itself. In addition, newspapers seem to have unfortunately become associated with capitalism in another way: through its representation as waste. Newspapers, sometimes only 1 hour old, can now be seen in large numbers wasting away on the streets of our cities, on the floors of our buses and trains, on the fields of our suburbs…Like the Robert De Niro character in Brazil, we are not only succumbing to an over accumulation of information, we are burying ourselves, and the environment, under the waste we create so frivolously and carelessly.

Third, with the exception of a few dedicated-to-win-the-race-on-knowing intellectuals, most of the newspapers reading people I have ever met or seen only seem to read a fraction of the paper. So much knowledge, so little interest. Or it is that only a very small percentage of a paper is actually interesting to most people, making it therefore cost-prohibitive (cost to society, not direct monetary cost to the consumer) for the level of quality offered?

ُThe good news is that progress will make the newspaper as we know it obsolete. It is only a matter of time until it is fully replaced by cell phones, pda’s, and other electronic devices or until nanotechnology allows us to keep one paper but to get fresh news on it everyday. In the meantime, I encourage anyone who cares about the environment to start getting their news from other sources and to send newspapers back to where they belong: the 17th century!