Dead trees good for one thing: capturing history

In an article entitled, "Can Obama Save the Media Industry? How the president-elect has reinvigorated newspaper and magazine sales," reporter Johnnie L. Roberts recounts the surreal demand for print documentation of Barack Obama's historic election win.

"It's at least a temporary reversal of fortune that the print industry plans
to bank on up to and beyond the inauguration. In the market for news, where the
Net and 24/7 cable networks have increasingly become the first and last stop for
many readers, consumers' Obama obsession is an adrenalin shot to print media's
sense of self-worth and self-image. The Obama story is 'something the print
industry has been dying to come along,' says Janice Min, Editor In Chief of US
Weekly. 'You can't save and treasure a PDF file off of your computer. That's the
transcendence of print that everyone in print has talked about, a certain
tangible quality that can't be translated online for certain big momentous
events.'"

Interesting article indeed; to read it in full, visit here.

To see November 5, 2008 newspaper front pages from around the world, visit the Newseum archive online here.

The irony, however? The story is a "Newsweek Web Exclusive". My guess is it's a little somethin' somethin' to let all the diehard web readers know what they missed last week - the great print partay, woohoo! :- )