The Future of the Humble Newspaper in Jamaica

Currently there is a Recession in the United States of America and now in the United Kingdom, a Recession that is affecting most businesses worldwide and even here in Jamaica. Hardest hit are the Newspaper businesses worldwide. 

But if the prevalence and proliferation of digital media continues, the Newspaper as we know it, in its physical paper form will be a thing of the past and go paperless and possibly even going into Telecoms via the usage of the “white spaces” i.e. unused Spectrum in-between the NTSC standard frequencies for television broadcast as well as unused frequencies in certain geographical locations in Jamaica.

These “White” space Frequencies will be left once RJR Communications Group and the CVM Communications Group transition to HDTV, once the RJR Communications Group and CVM Communications Group vacate the frequencies that they currently occupy, based on the trend among most young people, very few of whom read Newspapers from either The Gleaner company of Jamaica , The Herald and The Jamaica Observer.

Most Newspapers that still print their news using paper in the United States of America, United Kingdom and the EU have either folded or have going to printing an online version only. Already The Gleaner Company of Jamaica and the Jamaica Observer has an online version alongside their paper based publications. The future of print media as we currently know it is on the ropes.

Even if the Recession lifts within a year as predicted by Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve Chief in 2009, most Newspapers will never recover as more and more people seek to save on the expense of reading the news by getting their news online. In addition, there is also the fact that fewer and fewer people, both young people [teenagers] in the age range from 12-18 are not even reading print news anymore.

They relying solely on TV as well as on the Internet on their mobile smart phones for specific news that they desire to read, as stated in the report written by Matthew Robson, aged fifteen (15) years old, while he was an intern at Morgan Stanley in 2009 entitled  “How Teenagers Consume Media: the report that shook the City”, printed by the Guardian Newspaper, Monday 13 July 2009 10.23 BST.

Matthew Robson’s research note is based on anecdotal observation and he is a young untrained observer and thus on this basis his research note cannot be regarded as scientific and only as being anecdotal, as it is not knows what exactly his research methodology was in collecting the statistics in his report.

Nonetheless, it is the best study possible, given that if it were conducted by an adult or someone seen as an authority figure, the young people featured in the study may have view the research, be it via casual questioning or questionnaires as a means of bringing them back into line, effectively a form of Social control as stated in “Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective”, authors Peter L. Berger, published by Doubleday and Company Inc, Garden City, New York (1963), p 68 - 92.

Hence on this basis, Matthew Robson’s research note, albeit not scientific, given the restrictions as it relates to adults asking the opinions of young people via questionnaires, must be admissible as evidence of the point being made by this letter: the future generation no longer read Newspapers in printed form and mainly get their news via word-of-mouth using the various form of communications technology that interconnect them.

Whether it be Social Networking websites i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Email, Instant Messaging or mobile phones all of which are devices that utilize the ever expanding database that is the Internet. This is how they consume media and it is all via electronic sources, for which the younger, more tech –savvy generation have specific preferences and taste.

Enter the current iteration of the Amazon Kindle, dubbed the Kindle 2. The Kindle 2 is a product created by Bezos, CEO of Amazon, the online book retail giant. It is basically a tablet device that reproduces the usage of books in a digital format and was conceived by Amazon as a mean of making the reading of content easier by making a portable device upon which all books and other printable content could be easily stored and read. In effect, it is basically a device specifically designed for reading and storage of all printed material, effectively an eReader device.

Unlike a laptop, the Amazon Kindle 2 is optimized for book reading, with a screen technology called Digital Paper that is gentle on the eyes and having reflective qualities similar to that of paper, making extended hours of reading possible, unlike laptops which are backlit and eventually result in eyestrain.

Currently content is placed on the Kindle 2 via the 3G internet, which is available on both GSM and CDMA Networks, the previous iteration of the Amazon Kindle using the CDMA EV-DO service called Whispernet, which is a 2G wireless internet service available for mobile devices on the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) Networks that Sprint and Verizon uses.

The Amazon Kindle 2 thus works on the 3G Networks in the United States of America of mainly Telecom Provider Verizon CDMA and Telecom Provider AT&T’s GSM Networks respectively, both of which support 3G. Books are sent to the device via Amazon's wireless service, Whispernet, which lets you download books, articles, periodicals and Newspapers from anywhere you can get a 3G connection from your chosen Telecoms Provider, once the material is purchased from Amazon’s website.

The WhisperSync function allows users to share books, articles, periodicals and Newspapers with other users of Amazon Kindle 2’s by email, as each Kindle 2 device has a unique email account, which is how content is sent to the device, with the person’s email being placed in a pre-screened of approved list to prevent spam.

The Whispernet connection is a feature that, if you bought your service from Telecom Provider Sprint, it would cost you US$60 a month and requires a two-year contract that you'd have to pay US$200 to terminate early.

The Amazon Kindle service currently delivers content to its customers Kindle 2 for a reasonable cost, from books purchased online to blogs, *.pdf documents and yes, Newspapers. This service can be made to work here in Jamaica, as currently the Amazon Kindle 2 devices operate on GSM Networks, the only hurdle being the ability of consumers to pay for the plans associated with the device.

Ostensibly the device will be sold on a plan as opposed to postpaid or prepaid (prepaid and pay-as you go respectively in the United States of America), though this may present some difficulty for people who are on a plan already to purchase a new device.

Thus the idea is simple.  Newspapers will eventually be reliant on the Amazon Kindle 2 or other similar devices i.e. Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple IPad, Sony Reader and even Apple iPhones and other smart phones e.g. Blackberrys, HTC Google MyTouch 3G, Nokia N95, etc with the eReader’s app installed.

By making deals with the eReader’s content provider and a suitable 3G Telecoms Provider i.e. LIME or CLARO to deliver news and other content embedded in the paperless version of the Newspaper to the next generation of Newspaper Reader who is more wired and online than the previous generation and has less time to read the whole news, but still likes to read books and Newspapers nonetheless. 

Albeit expensive and basically an early adopters device, the Kindle 2 technology is the perfect substitute as it allows the delivery of content that you wish to read from the Newspaper, as with time mass adoption and word-of-mouth among the young will drive the price down. 

The fact that this new Amazon Kindle 2 support the GSM Telecoms Provider’s Networks that currently has 80 billion users worldwide, according to the GSMA (Global systems for Mobile Communications Alliance) website, makes it the perfect device to deliver content such as books, periodicals and Newspapers.

Thus, Newspapers and other legally registered publishers can upload their content for distribution to Amazons servers for distribution around the world to persons using Apple Kindle 2 or they can do the same with Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple IPad, Sony Reader or smart phones for the other competing eReader content providers.

This concept of distributing content is somewhat reminiscent of an episode of “Dr. Who”, a BBC Wales program which featured a similar concept with a news distributing satellite station called Satellite 5 that collected and disseminated news across the know Universe and the future Earth, according to the shows plot.

Thus the Newspaper of the future will not be printed, but paperless, with news being distributed by the Telecoms Provider’s 3G service and being read using devices that look like mini table PC’s i.e. eReaders, like the Amazon Kindle 2 or it competitors the Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple IPad, Sony Reader or smart phones.

This can be seen as the precursor of such devices and their widespread eventual usage. Already most users of the Internet, whether it is wired i.e. ADSL (Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line) or Wireless i.e. FIOS (Fiber Optic Subscriber), 2G (Second Generation), 3G (Third Generation) and WiMax internet, get the majority of their news via this media.

Telecom Providers with 2G GPRS (Global Packet Radio System) and EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) enabled Networks such as Telecom Provider Digicel, Telecom Provider LIME and Telecom Provider CLARO 3G UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) and HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) enabled Networks such as Telecom Provider CLARO  and Telecom Provider LIME.

3.5G WiMaX 4G Fixed (IEEE 802.16a,d) enabled Networks such as Telecom Provider Digicel already support mobile products that allow for the delivery of messaging services and news content directly to your mobile instrument, mostly Blackberrys, Apple iPhones and Nokia smart phones and other branded smart phones.

In one model of such a Paperless Newspaper delivery service, these Telecoms Providers, in the future in partnership with Newspapers, can allow readers of their Daily, Weekend, Sunday tabloid and long sheet publications to subscribe for regular content, specifically Newspapers and magazine content via POS (Point of Sale), ABM (Automated Banking Machine) and subscription over the phone using Debit and Credit card.

Their content ordered either on devices like the Kindle 2, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple IPad, Sony Reader, smart phones such as the Apple iPhone and the HTC MyTouch 3G or and even on Television, once the RJR Communications Group and the CVM Communications Group have made the decision to go HDTV (High Definition Digital Television).

In another model, the “white spaces”, it is hoped, will be left license free, allowing the Newspaper companies to possibly distribute the Newspaper content themselves in the future to one common device they themselves will own that uses these “white” space frequencies - if the SMA (Spectrum Management Authority) allows this to happen as is the case currently in the United States of America as stated in the article “TV "white" space Networks tested” published February 24, 2010 4:06 PM PST by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - Signal Strength.

Whichever model is more suitable, one thing is for certain, delivery via wireless internet and paperless will be the eventual future of our local Newspapers here in Jamaica. Mass acceptance of the device will eventually drive the price of the Kindle 2 and similar devices down, making it a mass media device for the reading of Newspapers, thus allowing the full digital and paperless transition of the Newspaper.

In addition, the device can double as a convenient way to carry books that one can purchase without having to go to the bookstore as well as reduce the cost of books altogether, making books affordable and rekindle - no pun intended – the love of reading among users.

Alternatives to the Amazon Kindle 2 exist in the Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple IPad, Sony Reader and smart phones such as the Apple iPhone and the HTC MyTouch 3G, all of which could be incorporated into the mix of eReader devices supported by the different Telecoms Providers, with the eventual aim of rendering Newspapers in paper form obsolete and ushering in the age of content on demand and paperless, digital Newspapers.

Thus, one can now safely say that much in the same way RJR Communications Group and the CVM Communications Group will be going HDTV soon in Jamaica, the same revolution will also hit the Newspaper industry, dramatically changing the landscape of Newspaper readership and as in Telecoms, form a distinction between Prepaid (Subscribers who merely buy a Newspaper when they need news) and Postpaid (Customers who preorder their Newspapers months ahead in time) with the hope of making all users Postpaid Readers. 

Thus via this means The Gleaner Company of Jamaica, The Herald and the Jamaica Observer can make the transition into a paperless form delivered via 3G internet and as a plus go into Telecoms after the transition of RJR Communications Group and the CVM Communications Group to HDTV, which will free up Spectrum which can be resold to Telecoms Providers in order to provide data services.

Jamaica is waiting with baited breath on the Telecoms Industry launch of high speed wireless internet, but moreso the transition of industry RJR Communications Group and the CVM Communications Group to HDTV, which may create the potential for The Gleaner Company of Jamaica, the Herald and the Jamaica Observer to enter into the Telecoms Market.

Thus a push for Newspapers to a new generation along with VAS (Value Added Services), thereby elevating the once humble Newspaper into the 21^st century, strengthening their revenue stream and guaranteeing their survival during the Recession in the United States of America, the effect of which is predicted to last another seven (7) years in Jamaica.