Print: Best for Pushing-up Daisies?

The Herald has been through some interesting upswings these past few months, thanks to the leadership and continuing support of Karen Hawley (Editor-in-Chief), Tony Johnson (former Editor-in-Chief and current contributor) and Prof. Sara Kelly. We're venturing into new media with our new YouTube channel and Twitter stream, and now we're collaborating here to bring a sort of lifestyle blog, which will combine the real life experiences of our travel writer, Corrina Songer, musings of our politics buff Joanna Hall, and potentially focused fodder from me, the meekly self-proclaimed media blogger.

We are proud of our emergence into new media. Yet, while listening to NPR this morning, another commentary from an acclaimed journalist played on the importance of the "tactile" experience of the print newspaper. Many journalists love this word as it relates to the romance of reading newspapers. If you Google "tactile newspaper" you will find it repeated in blogs that are mourning the end of print and publishing. It sort of makes the non-tactile-needy folks sound less real, maybe even less interactive, with what they are reading.

However, in Ikea today, while picking up recyclable storage solutions for my room, I read countless many signs about their pride in saving energy and packing materials. Picking up groceries, I avoided the embarrassment of the now-scorned "paper or plastic" question by bringing my own cloth bag. I'm typing this by sunlight, and letting the breeze flow through the house to cool it.

In an age where a disposable lifestyle is turning into an embarrassing metaphor for indulgence, I don't understand why such a smart group of people as professional journalists don't see newsprint as an irresponsible choice rather than a heady one. I may not be able to squeeze the print of my RSS reader between my fingers, but I don't get that nagging environmentalist voice when I read it and toss it aside.

The NU Herald doesn't have a print version of the paper, and I'm not sure we ever will. My growing eco-conscience knows that if we did, I'd most certainly feel guilty about it.

Though I hear you can shred newspaper and add it to your compost pile. Maybe that should be the new metaphor for print?

UPDATED 5/12/09 to add that Google backs me on this (sort of) -- Click Here

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