Fit to Print

So, as I'm sure you're all lamenting/saying "I told you so" about, CosmoGIRL! has folded. Sigh, it is always sad when a mag dies, and even sadder to me when after the fact I read a dozen aritcles/blog posts/article-blog-posts that pronouce print dead. Out-dated. Obsolete. Stupid. And such has been the case since yesterday.

Now, before I get into what I want to say about print, I would like to point out that I think new media is great. I love the blog (clearly) and I love social networking (although I'm not awesome at using it), and I love the sharing of content. Hell, some of the coolest links I find, I found from following Twitter users. I love it, I'm happy to be part of it and watch it grow.

However, I get a little upset when people put down print as if the Internet is now the end-all be-all of media. Maybe I'm biased, because I do love magazines. I truly think they are uncomparable to most anything I've seen online (not necessarily better - although in many cases, yes better - just different) - even a mag's own website, even online mags, even cool blogs that I really enjoy. I'm a memeber of Gen Y who loves magazines, and even newspapers - and I know there are more of you out there. Which is why, in response to all the "Boo print" blogs I've read recently, I'd like to make a case for print. Now, I'm hardly an authority. But I feel as if I have something to say worth hearing.

First, print is just more comfortable and at times even more accessible than new media. I know, in a world of iPhones and wireless Interent, who needs real paper when you have screens? Well, think about it. A magazine will never take an hour to load on a web browser, cause eye-strain, be too small to read, download a virus, or need a special device to view. A magazine won't have crappy pop-up ads about crap I don't need (I cannot believe advertisting like this possibly works). I can pick up a magazine, take it with me anywhere, and have it right there, ready to go. And, frankly, I love that. I love my little book of art and well-written pieces, ready to enlighten me - often about topics I would have never even known about to Google search.

And in reading my magazine content and enjoying the photos and layout, I know it is content I can trust. With the Internet, there's no rhyme or reason to how things get put up on the Web, and because of its vast amount of never-ending space, nearly anyone and can write anything on any topic (case in point, this very blog post). And while sure, this has great advantages, offering an outlet to millions of people who before had nothing, it also gives a space to losers who don't care about good content. The web is a space where everything is SEO'd to death and linked with advertisements that make it hard to a)discern what is good and what is not and b) actually find that good stuff. Let's say I want to find an article about skin care on the web - chances are the first things that pop up on Google are random crap or endorsed by Neutrogena. Not that print doesn't often find itself in this quandry, but I am definitely more willing to trust what's in a mag then what's on, say, getreallygreatskin.com. There's little space to fill, and editors - good journalists - want to fill it with good important stuff. A lot of the web is not this.

And then furthermore, magazines are just special. Of course it's more difficult to get published in print then online - there's limited space and what fills that space has to be damn good. It's special, selected material that someone believes you'll enjoy and find interesting, or will importantly inform you. On a web platform where more articles equals more ad space and not more money spent, where's the specialness?

OK, I think that is enough of a rant. And I know I may get backlash for this. But I just don't understand why print and online media can't co-exist. I read so many things about how people love magazines but know they are dead. Um, hello? If you love them why let them die? No one said the Internet HAD to take over everything.

Proceed with telling me I'm wrong or old-fashioned....