Are Graphic Designers Killing Newspapers?

Abstract

The newspaper is doomed, according to recent predictions, and another form of technological journalism will emerge in its place. Even newspaper editors have said they must get out of the business of making newspapers in favour of making information. This way of thinking takes away from journalism a passion for ink and paper, the materials that shaped the press. It also takes the future of journalism out of the hands of journalists and leaves it in the hands of others, the computer and packaging specialists, which is necessary when news becomes as dry as information. Designers are artists with values alien to journalism. Typographers honour the book above all and strive to give the newspaper a look that is more like a book. Illustrators strive to turn the newspaper page into a poster like those of Toulouse-Lautrec. Infographics designers admire Minard and layout designers emulate Mondrian. The consequences are visible in pages that are beautiful, but lack news about ordinary life. Without space for a more diverse audience, the newspaper does indeed have to die. Ink and paper are the keys to the ritual of reading the press. News on paper contributes to collective memory in a way that digital forms cannot, at least so far.