A spate of things were supposed to kill newspapers in the 20th century . There was radio , then TV , then the cyberspace . Somehow newspapers have survived , in one material body or another . But it ’s still interesting to take a facial expression at the anticipation that masses of yesterday had for how the news business would change . Like this comic airstrip from 1913 about the newspaper of tomorrow .
The August 20 , 1913 , edition of theSt . Louis Post - Dispatchreprinted a cartoon from the London Chronicle about the newspaper of the hereafter . And it dish as a absorbing snap of an era when machine were still comparatively new , powered flight was just a decade old , and broadcast wireless was still for other adopter .
The first two panels of the six - panel comic strip explain that the newspapers of tomorrow will be smaller and yet contain just as much news as before . And the method of dispersion will become much straightaway , thanks largely to the role of car . By the third board , the comic jokes about the cattle ranch of newspapers to incredibly remote areas , and then sing about the use of airplanes for deliverance .
By the fifth gore , we see a newspaper son clapperclaw about a “ midnight edition ” of the newspaper , because the editions now add up out every hour of the 24-hour interval and dark . At the very end , the paper is out , having been replace by the “ graphophone , ” an improved version of the record player , which was invented in 1895 .
And while the comedian is clearly imply to be choose lightly , there ’s a lot of truth to all of it . As early as 1922 , hobby wireless cartridge clip were auspicate that radio would become thedominant metier for news . And while the comedian does n’t mention wireless , there was recognition that audio programme ( in this case , presumptively carried on strong-arm media ) would be a terrific agency to deliver the news . The panel about newsprint editions being delivered “ every minute of the day and dark ” was n’t too far off either , even before the invention of the net .
Of naturally , the dayspring of the internet land some ultra predictions for the future of news as well . In 1994 , newspaper company Knight Ridder predicted that mass would readnewspapers on tablets — an incredibly prescient idea that would ’ve seemed silly until the introduction of the iPad in 2010 .
prevision like these are intended to be jokes , of form , in one form or another . But trick are often the skillful way to transmit our greatest hope and darkest fears for the future . More often than not , they depend jolly damn sane a century afterward .
[ Newspapers.com ]
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