Revisiting the death of the newspaper

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*edit: I changed the title. That’s how we roll here at Ell’s blog.

During one famously hilarious episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien, our red-haired host interviewed Wayne Newton about his zest for performing. At one point, Newton replied that he would perform for free; he loved being in front of people so much. So, Conan called his bluff and put him out in Times Square, singing to passersby for tips. Many didn’t think it was actually Newton, and while you could attribute that to his age and people’s glossy perception of him, it actually proves that people need to be in a certain environment to appreciate certain acts.

The Washington Post recently printed an excellent article where a classically trained violinist, one of the best in the world, performed as a street musician in a Washington D.C. federal building. The test was to see if people would tip appropriately to the music they were hearing. Would they notice the greatness playing before them?

As it turned out, no. No they didn’t. Violinist Joshua Bell played for 45 minutes and including the $20 plunked down by one fan who saw him at an earlier show (and was completely astonished to watch), Bell made off with $32.17. Watch the accompanying video, you can hear how accomplished he is and watch how many people literally speed past.

(Sidebar: There’s a street saxophonist who plays outside of Miller Park who my friend Ryan think is horrible. Yet when we walked by the guy and Ryan yelled “Simpsons” The guy immediately stopped his prior song and went into the theme song. I was impressed. Then again I was horribly drunk and had just signed up for a credit card so I could get a free Brewers blanket. In my drunk environment, the player was good.)

If you’re looking at a painting, would people need to see it in a museum to fully appreciate it? I say yes. Newton and Bell’s performances prove that: A- it’s best to see a Roots show in Philadelphia, a Dave Matthews Band show at an outdoor venue or a painting at the Louvre; and B-the newspaper, online or printed, will always have a place in America.

I realize those many seem loosely connected, but to truly appreciate a situation or an action, you must experience it in its true environment. And many people still don’t trust the television news, because it comes on directly after Maury Povich tells a 23 year-old woman that her boyfriend is in fact, not her baby daddy. For most everyone, the true environment of news is still the printed copy, whether it’s electronic or paper.

Right now, most everyone in the world of journalism considers the printed page a dead science and that a move to electronic copy is the only way for the industry to survive. Most clamor that the printed news is a dying industry. Which is half-true, but a newspaper’s focus should always be the printed medium, because that’s where it’s most relevant. Simply, any crazy yahoo out there can create a website (Hey look – I can see a kettle on my desk!), but not just any joker can create a news organization that publishes thousands of papers every day. (Trust me; this blog wasn’t my first run. The “Life from the Basement Times” never quite took off.)

Look at the coverage from the Virginia Tech killings. At first, everyone ran to the Internet for the breaking coverage, sitting glued to the television to hear the updates. But the next morning, everyone still read the newspaper story from either the print edition or the Web. People wanted to know exactly what happened and they went to the newspaper before they turned the television back on.

Granted, I have an incredibly slanted opinion toward the print media. But what do you think? Do you ever read the newspaper, print or online? Or would you rather watch local news? Do you like reading blogs, or do you think they are just crackpot nerds who need to get back to work?

Do you think something is best experienced in its most authentic environment or just its largest stage? Think of the best concert you’ve been to….where was it/who was playing? Did the location matter? Could it have been better?

All I know is, if I got off the bus and The Roots were playing in the lobby of the building I worked in, I’d be late as hell getting back to work. But in Minnesota, who else would notice?

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