What is the future of the print medium in light of the recent emergence of digital media, and what are the resultant prospects for the magazine industry ?

Print has long been an inexpensive means of reaching a multitude of people. It is neither selective nor exclusive. The print medium is familiar and uncomplicated. The principle argument against digital media were summed up by the aforementioned on-line music magazine editor,

"We are still not at the stage where people will (or should) be willing to stay tied to their computers all day. Print is still much more of a portable medium, and holds a great advantage in that respect."83

Digital media is still a predominantly fixed media in the physical sense, unlike print or even radio. As social trends change and the place of life increases, the portability of the print media cannot be underestimated. Therein lies one of the greatest shortcomings of the digital media.

However digital media pushes the boundaries, reaching more people faster. It remains an exclusive media but this exclusivity is waning as an increasing number of people "go on-line".

Acceptance of the digital media will depend on the users' willingness to familiarise themselves with it in the same way that they have with the print medium. Being conversant with the digital media is a learning process which must be gone through if the digital media is to co-exist with the print medium.

"Also for now, people understand how to use print media much better than electronic media, in terms of being able to scan for information and reject irrelevant information. We have many years of training in that, but the Web, being a much more recent and also fluid medium, makes it much harder for us to use in that way."84

Digital media is not a superior nor inferior media. It is a different media. The architects of digital media must commit themselves to exploring the possibilities with imagination and determination in order to ensure that the media is allowed to demonstrate all that it can offer.

Those interviewed for this thesis, including those working within the digital industry, do not think that the end of print is nigh. Most agree that the two media will co-exist and develop alongside each other. Each have their own inherent strengths which should ensure their longevity. This is evident in many of the magazines examined in this thesis. These printed magazines have set up a digital presence to complement the printed version. Although digital media has been used differently throughout the various magazines, most have been successful in creating a presence reflective of the printed content and its target audience.

The magazine industry is not likely to feel any strong effects from this digital emergence in the near future. Many magazine publishers feel the strongest competition comes from fellow printed competitors and not from digital media. The industry remains unchanged, and the move from a predominantly printed to a digital society will be a gradual process. As a recently published report titled, Network, Screen and Page: The Future of Reading in the Digital Age, predicts,

"Over the next 15 to 20 years, we are likely to observe a gradual evolution, not a sudden shift....(and) reading, printing and publishing will still be recognisably similar to what it is today."85

83. Appendix 1, op. cit.

84. ibid

85. Interquest, op. cit.