I very rarely get the chance to sit down and read the newspaper anymore. However, every Saturday morning I make a habit of sitting down to eat breakfast with both the New York Times and The Bergen Record(a local paper) in front of me. I will usually read the Sports sections first, skim through the Comics, possibly glance at the front pages, and as of late I will peruse the Arts. I look forward to this treat all week and find it extremely relaxing, but as current exhibit at the New Museum called “The Last Newspaper” has started to make me think….How long before newspapers become obsolete and fall by the wayside? 
Newspapers have been around since the early 17th century and have served as one of the primary ways people learn information. Besides informing the public about the current events occurring in the world around them, newspapers have served as a medium for artists to get their messages across. Not only that, but the physical properties of newspapers(as well as what they represent) have made them an artist favorite in terms of using them within works of art. Some artists known to use newspapers are Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. The exhibit addresses various aspects of newspapers both physically and metaphorically. An explanation of the exhibit that I read describes it best(albeit in a grandiloquent manner)”The artists in this exhibition continue the exploration of the newspaper, but their focus lies in the ideological rather than the purely physical properties of the daily press. They use the newspaper as a platform to address issues of hierarchy, attribution, contextualization, and editorial bias. By disassembling and recontextualizing elements of the newspaper, such as the construction of graphics and text, the artists on view take charge of and remake the flow of information that defines our perception of the world. At its simplest, the artistic impulse that largely informs this exhibition is one of reaction and appropriation; the newspaper provides a stimulus and is itself incorporated into the final artwork.”With the instant gratification addicted society we live in and the ever progressing technology, the tangible newspaper may soon be running its last issue. People can now get all the news and information they could dream of online. Additionally with the popularity of blogs, anyone can play”reporter” and dispense information just by typing away at their desk. Although publications are now putting their newspapers online, I wouldn’t feel the same reading about the latest news buzz while staring at my wonderful Macaulay issued Mac(not allowed on the Sabbath anyway). I don’t know about you guys but for me there is just something special about the smell of fresh ink in the morning.
The availability of information increases exponentially by the instant. The way we explore information has also gone through seismic changes in the last 10 years that have outdone the previous 1,000. It is exhilarating, and exhausting. there have been continuing reports of the eventual demise of the newspaper, and it may very well be completely replaced by on-line sources, but it would be a shame. A newspaper (actually in print) is like a loaf of fresh bread. It has a tactile sense that an electronic avatar cannot replace, and it has a specific limited shelf life that is part of its special quality. “Today’s news” is like a loaf fresh from the oven.