Kenneth Pybus on Digital Readers

OurBlook interview with Kenneth R. Pybus, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, Abilene Christian University

What are the benefits of digital delivery for newspapers, magazines, books and other publications?

KP: People have simply accepted the limitations of newspaper and magazine delivery on the Internet over the past decade, but it has required them to make significant behavioral changes. People can't read on their computer the same way they read a magazine or a newspaper. Portability is crucial to magazine and newspaper consumption ... people need to read on the bus, on the plane, waiting for a meeting to start, at the breakfast table. Even a laptop doesn't allow them to effectively do that. In addition, the tactile interaction with the magazine is important to the reading experience. The feel of the pages, the weight in your hands ... in that regard, iPad and other devices like it are better.

What are the drawbacks?

KP: The main drawback is the same problem the music industry faces. For decades, people have been paying for music and getting it in tangible format. So psychologically they were paying for the vinyl or the plastic or the cassettes or CDs, and the music just happened to be included. Today it's hard for people to pay money for the zeros and ones that are electronically delivered to their computers or iPods. Newspapers and magazines will face the same hurdle. People always thought they were paying for the newsprint or the slick paper and will have to be convinced that they need to support all the reporters, photographers, freelancers who do the work readers don't want to do to get the information and news they want.

What are the benefits of digital delivery for readers?

KP: Readers can take all 20 of their magazines and newspapers with them wherever they go. They can read at 7:30 a.m. at the breakfast table like my dad always did, they can read breaking news throughout the day like I do, or they can do something completely different. Even though we initially will lose some of the transferability and interactivity capabilities of print, we pick up other interactivity opportunities ... instant messaging with friends regarding a news story. The news becomes a much greater participant in the daily conversation as opposed to a static subject of the conversation.

What are the drawbacks?

KP: The first thing I do when I pick up a paper hot off the presses ... as a former newspaper reporter ... is to smell the fresh ink. We can't duplicate that, to be sure.

In all seriousness, the main problem with digital distribution is the sharing capabilities. It's a whole lot harder to hand your $500 pad to a friend to read an article than to give them the $3.50 magazine. Usually you'd give the magazine to someone who was interested in a story. Also, you lose some of the family interaction ... "Dad, where's the sports page?" for example. Lots of journalists bemoan the end of the ink era out of nostalgia, but it's that connectivity that is lost and has to be replaced by something just as good.

What are the various modes of digital delivery and are there significant differences among them? Is there one particular type of device you think is best?

KP: It's got to be portable and full-color. The iPad is great because it offers lots of other capabilities, but other similar non-proprietary devices could be just as good.

Do you think digital reading devices can help save failing newspapers and magazines, in that they could send the product to their readers without paying the substantial printing and delivery costs?

KP: Yes and no. Newspapers and magazines are dealing with problems beyond just the printing and delivery costs, so a simple change in delivery method will not save them. They are trying to produce a product with an outdated business model, and they are going to have to radically restructure their employee base and information-gathering models to survive. In some ways, newspapers especially are facing the problem of disconnect from their audience, and they can't regain that just by delivering via mobile device.

Also, to survive, newspapers have to make the connection between mass media and micro media, which we call social media, where most young people get their news.

You must see a lot of students on campus. Is this upcoming generation totally digital now ... not just physically but in that mindset ... or are there vestiges of print?

KP: I'd be curious how students would respond to digital textbooks, etc. I do know they have such a familiarity with Web that it's no big deal for them to produce a news story that appears "just online" and is not televised or printed. So they do still like some tangibleness ... though not enough to subscribe to a newspaper or watch the evening news.

Is this nation at the starting point of digital delivery, in the middle of it or at a sophisticated stage? Is there something important that has to be developed technologically for digital delivery to advance?

KP: This is just at the beginning. It feels like we've been talking about the demise of the newspaper and the magazine forever, but 50 years from now, people will not see this transition as an abrupt one. I think the combination of high-quality graphic display, portability, Web access and battery life makes the iPad and similar devices more significant than any invention related to the display of information since the Gutenberg press. I know that's a strong statement, but these types of devices combine the best technology of the past 100 years for the dissemination of information.

(Prof. Pybus is also student media adviser at Abilene Christian. He has been editor of the Nashville Business Journal, managing editor of the Houston Business Journal, producer of Nashville Business This Week and a reporter with the Brazosport Facts. He has a B.S. in journalism and mass communication from Abilene Christian and a law degree from Baylor. He's working on his Ph.D. at Texas Tech.)