Newspapers can't afford 'no papers' days anymore

There are a few days in the year when newspapers aren’t published; the days vary according to where you live. This morning is one such day in Mumbai. Why doesn’t any one newspaper break ranks and give themselves all the glory for one day? It’s not because the newspapers do not publish their papers or because they choose not to (in today’s age, the news gathering machine works 24X7, thanks to digital products), but because the distribution infrastructure takes the day off. [caption id=“attachment_75003” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Archive image of newspapers laid out with a vendor. Danish Ismail/Reuters”]  [/caption] So a day such as this, would, ordinarily, be not simply a no newspaper day, but a no news day as well. Unless, of course, you caught the news on TV or the Internet, neither of which is hampered by distribution bottlenecks. What happens if you choose not to watch TV or surf the Internet? I attempted to see what I would have known about the world if I just read my Twitter timeline – just the timeline, not news feeds, etc. I’ve put together the highlights from my feed – leaving out the news brands that I follow (I follow 119 twitter accounts), only focusing on updates from 8.00 am until now. KV Sridhar (@kvpops) sets the tone. “No newspaper this morning. Wish i could keep it that way.” Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) intrigues me with her update, so I’ll visit it later. “Cloud computing can cause rains & to get money from Swiss banks lets occupy the country- Gems from Vishwa Bandhu Gupta,” Prakash says, with a link to an Indian Express story. Prakash has been busy – and helpful – this morning, and her next update intrigues me more. “Turning around Brand Manmohan. A marketing guru’s guide”, is the update, linking to a piece by Charulata Ravi Kumar. Karthik Srinivasan (@beastoftraal) educates social media followers with a story of failure (it’s always useful to read these). “Pizza Hut’s Social Media Mistake http://bit.ly/rlkVUc Ouch! And beware - remember this for your Facebook polls”, is the update, with a link taking one to the original story. “Thanks to Twitter & the news stream tweeple share, one no longer misses the newspapers on their day off. News 2.0 in action,” comments @ashoklalla. Newspapers should be concerned at their holiday. @thesatbir ‘+1’s @kvpos update. Karthik Srinivasan is back, telling me that AR Rahman has a new brand deal. “A R Rahman is one of the 5 artists signed by JBL speakers for a multi-year campaign.” @calamur gets me hooked with this one. “interesting … RT @kuffir: It’s Ekpal, not Lokpal.” Of course I’ll read this one later. Prashant Pandey (@ppandey0807) posts a new blog, throwing light on the developments in the 2G scam “The real truth: The truth in the 2G scam is slowly emerging….. And finally, Anand Mahindra’s (@anandmahindra) tweet. “We appear inclined to Messi-anic personas & cult worship.No word on Venezuelan Team or other Argentinians. Is that why we lag in Team Sports?” I’m a little uncomfortable about the unnecessary capitalization, but I agree with the sentiment. Overall, that’s a lot for me to chew on – haven’t missed the newspaper or news television too much. That’s something for the newspapers to chew on, though.