I recently received this e-mail from a limo service I use for business travel. Another wave goodbye in the long goodbye to print journalism. So long to ink on your fingers, the crinkle and crackle and smell of newsprint paper, the thud of the Sunday edition hitting your front porch, he heft and tactile reality of a NEWSPAPER. Oh, this old school member of the hackpack will miss newspapers, as I still miss the clatter of city room typewriters, the urgent rattle of telexes sending dispatches from afar, editor’s cries of “Boy! Copy down!” Newsrooms today have all the romance  of insurance offices. And the rumble of the presses as they ran the first edition! Back in the day, the 25-story Chicago Tribune Tower trembled like a mighty ship getting underway when those big presses cranked up to full speed.

Aside from the fact that we won’t be able to wrap fish in a tablet, we have to consider if, say, the Watergate scandal would have had the impact it did if it appeared on a small touch screen and could be deleted with the tap of a finger. Out of sight, out of mind. I’m sure books are next on the digital geeks’ hit list. So, goodbye to anything resembling permanence in written expression, hello to the transitory, the evanescent: the tweet, the instagram. Here is the e-mail (itself becoming as obsolete a means of communication as smoke signals):

Dear Valued Clients:

Effective January 1 we will no longer have newspapers in our vehicles unless otherwise requested. We have come to this decision for two reasons: first, we are unable to get newspapers until 5:30am and secondly, the majority of our customers view newspapers online and on tablets. Due to changing times, it seems newspapers are becoming obsolete.

If you wish to have newspapers for trips after 5:30am, please advise us and we will post to your profile.

Thank you for your understanding.

Very Truly,

Roy Spezzano
CEO

 

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