BPD

Bvtr,ome Pnooucrs DrcEsr

(Sbtor publication Building Products qigast soves the West)

PUBLISHER Alan Oakes (aioakes@aol.com)

PUBIISHER EMERITUS David Cutler

EDIT0R David Koenig (dkoenig@building-products.com)

ASS0GIATE EDIT0R Karen Debats (kdebats@building-products.com)

COI{TRIBUTII{G EDITORS Carla Waldemar, James 0lsen

ADVERTISII{G SATES MAIIAGER Chuck Casey (ccasey@building-products.com)

ADlrlll{lSTRAT|0ll DIRECT0R/ SECRETARY Marie Oakes (mfpoakes@aol.com)

ClBCULATl0ll Heather Kelly (hkelly@building-products.com)

How toAdvertise

Gonlacl our adyeilising olfices for rales:

S0UTH, MIDWEST & WEST: Chuck Casey, 4500 Campus Dr. #480, Newport Beach, Ca. 92660. Phone (949) 852.1990 Fax 949-8520231 Email ccasey@building-products.c0m

I{ORTHEAST: Paul Mummolo, 404 Princeton Ave., Brick, N.J.08724. Phone (732) 899-8102 Fu732-899-27 58 mummolop@comcast.net lllTERl{ET ADS: Alan Oakes, www.buildingproducts.com. Phone (949) 852-1S90 Fax 949-852-0231 Emailajoakes@aol.com.

How to Subscribe

Call Heather al (949) 852-1990 or send a check for the following amount to Building Products Digest,4500 Campus Drive, Suite 480, Newport Beach, Ca.92660-1872: U.S.A.: One year (12 issues), 924

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About the Cover

The front cover is a paid advefiisement, this month sponsored by CA-C pressure treated wood developed by Arch Wood Protection,

Extra! Extra! Read

Newspapers are no longer important to Americans, Warren Buffet remarked recently. In many cities you soon may not be able to read all about it. Or, if you can, your choice of newspaper may be seriously changed. All we see and hear today is that the newspaper industry is going away.

That assessment may be over-blown, but there's no doubt that a shift is taking place. Today, there are about 1,400 dailies in circulation (and that may be the root cause of the issue). Slightly less than half of all adults read a newspaper every day.

I would be the first to say that the advance of technology is wonderful. In fact, I spend at least half of each day on my computer, much of it online. But it's not where I want to read my news in any volume. I want it all in one place where I can choose what I wish to read about without searching through hundreds of pages or having to load multiple pages to read one story. I will no longer read many stories that in the newspaper would have caught my eye, but now won't because I'm shown only a headline. Is this progress? It is time to stand up for print before we succumb to this supposed progress gone awry.

I must admit that at times I have been as harsh a critic of our press as anyone, but I cannot imagine not reading a newspaper at some time in the day. During the work week, I arrive at the office and read the business journal (which I also have loaded on my Blackberry and find absolutely frustrating). At lunch, I read a large non-local newspaper. At home in the evening, I read the regional. Getting up on a Saturday and Sunday morning

all about it... or not

and reading the paper cover to cover with my cup of tea (yes, as a Brit, the habit has never changed) is one of the pleasures of the week. In fact, when I am out of the country traveling, by the third day I'm trying desperately to buy a U.S. paper at an exorbitant price. CNN doesn't do it for me. And yet, we are some time soon going to see newspaper after newspaper go the way of the dinosaur. And for what? We will miss hundreds of news items if this happens.

There is a place on the Internet for news. I read all the fun stuff there. I follow what Britney and Lindsay are doing (like them, I too must have too much time on my hands). I enjoy reading instant headlines of late-breaking news items or seeing up-to-date market news. But I don't just want to read about the top l0 pieces of news. I want to read about hundreds of pieces of newslocal, regional and national.

More importantly, I want to read good journalism and what is behind those headlines-and that is what will be most missed if we allow this to happen. Online is not where I want to read or will even find serious stuff that matters. For the most part, it is plain vanilla written by low-cost journalism students, due to the fact that the Net has always been seen as a way to cut costs. Most of the cost and hence most of the quality will be taken out to produce these e-versions. As real journalism fades away, will we really know the origin of much of the news in the blogosphere?

When reading on the screen, I tend to skim more (and these flip books are useless). I get fed up with crashes and wair ing for pages to load. When newspapers go away, it will not be the same experience. Where will I read easily in one place about the sports scores, the local sale at Macy's, the church event, the time of the movie, as well as what really is in that state budget? Where will I see dozens of conflicting articles on what the Fed should be doing, or why we should be in Afghanistan with a higher troop count? It will be the biggest hassle I can imagine.

There is no vehicle that I have seen as of now that suggests we would be better off not having newspapers. We are being told it is better, but it isn't.

Now we know that our newspapers are heavily sponsored by advertising, and that is the real issue. Advertising has gone down because readership has gone down, and that is what they must solve. I have personally listened to investment bankers who espouse that everything has to move to the Internet. For those MBA's, the model shows that getting rid of paper, mailing and other growing distribution costs will make businesses very profitable. What they do not understand is that advertisers are unwilling to pay the same price for advertising on the Net. Indeed they want to pay much less, and long-term it will make media companies less profitable, as revenue shrinks drastically. And like so-called progress in everything else, quality standards will continue to decline.

So the question is who is not buying newspapers today? Clearly, much of that lies in our youth no longer reading the paper. Maybe the situation was brought about by how our children are being educated and how we have allowed them to spend all their time surfing the Net. We have become a nation of headlines, not of investigation of real issues. We are samplers of sound-bites in arenas where personality and celebrity override common sense. We must view journalism and newspapers as absolutely essential to our communities. For good or bad, there is a power of the press that will be lost if this movement continues.

Now some will argue there will be other ways to get the good stuff published. I doubt it. I may be classified as old school, but it will be a tragic day when we see the end of our daily read.

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