A news report from KRON in San Francisco that first ran in 1981 gives us a glimpse into the origins of internet news and blogs. Extremely advanced for the time, this early communication software allowed users to download the San Francisco Examiner and 7 other newspapers to primitive home computers.
The video begins with a news anchor saying, “Imagine if you will, sitting down to your morning coffee, turning on your home computer to read the day’s newspaper. Well it’s not as far fetched as it may seem.” When you see something like this, you realize just how far the world of digital communication has come in a relatively short time. This video was shot the year I was born, and at that time, modems took over 2 hours to download text-only news over a phone line. User’s paid for network time by the hour, and it would have cost over $10 to read the paper on your computer’s “TV” screen.
One of the more interesting quotes in the video still holds true today. It comes from one of the editors at the San Francisco Examiner, David Cole. Regarding the publication of newspapers online he says, “We’re not in it to make money. We’re probably not going to lose a lot, but we’re not going to make much either.” It seems that even in the early days of electronic journalism, making a profit was not a priority. Either that, or they couldn’t figure out how to correctly monetize it.
This is this very problem that is still plaguing the newspaper industry, 28 years later. These San Francisco papers spent quite a bit of money helping to implement this new technology back in 1981. Ironically, it’s a form of this technology that could be the end of them. With the failure of so many newspapers this year and the proliferation of blogs and other digital news outlets, footage like this becomes especially relevant.
Who knows what will happen in the next 28 years. In the year 2037, we may look back on blogs like this one with the same fascination.
Thanks to TechCrunch for the link.
