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by KLiedle (writer), Los Angeles, July 19, 2007

Unlike many, I found out about the demise of Jane Magazine from the print edition of Advertising Age. Immediately, I went to Jane's website where nothing seemed amiss. But denial is a powerful notion.

Jane Magazine? Yes, dead she is:

While I won't miss her all that much, I always appreciated Jane's cattiness and fresh attitude. But, like Angela Hayes ( Mena Suvari's character in American Beauty), I always felt like Jane was just trying too hard to be hip.

I suppose I was right since now she's alone: and without a job. Heck, even Mena's got a job, while Jane's been reduced to selling Glamour subscriptions on her website.

As, Ms. Fashionista at http://viewfromthefourthrow.blogspot.com rightfully put it, Jane's demise is "Fitting for this day when Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan are considered heroines and the response for young girls when asked what they want to do when they grow up is: 'be famous.'"

Famous for being famous. That's what it's all about. That's just pathetic. Seriously, what's the world coming to? (Even Jane tried to save herself by putting Paris on the cover.)

Being a writer, I should also mention that I'm also the proud owner of my very own rejection letter from Jane Magazine. It was like I didn't make the cheerleading squad, but alas, the varsity cheerleading captain talked to me! Rejected? Nah, I should feel privileged. (Hmm: Is that rejection slip worth more now?) Now, even Jane's been kicked off the squad.

Honestly, I probably won't miss Jane, but I will miss Premiere and I still miss Life Magazine. (That sickly, little, sad, revival supplement in the Sunday paper made me cringe.) All in all, I have to admit I love magazines and I read lots of them, but it's getting harder and harder for even the successful magazines ( and other print media) to compete in this digital age.

Of course, I'm not the only one who's noticed. Like the celebrity websites that take bets on the next famous person to keel over, the folks at http://www.magazinedeathpool.com keep a running tally of the magazines who've died and who might be next. Their commentary is humorous and inviting in an addictive way, but it's also downright sad.

"Magazines, as we know them, are dying," states David Renard in his book, The Last Magazine. Ironically, there's even a blog that delves into the ongoing question of whether or not print is dead.

They are appropriately located at http://printisdeadblog.com Even more disturbing, perhaps, is that The Los Angeles Times recently reported that they are considering selling advertising space on the Front Page. Please make it stop!

As we all know, the reality is that with digital media you can't take it with you, and that's, above all, what I'™d miss if all print media retired.

There's nothing like flipping through a magazine or paging through a book or struggling to read the newspaper with outstretched arms. You can't do that online. Not to mention that a magazine or book's worth of that fluorescenty light emanating from the computer screen can't be good for anyone's eyes.

Fifty years from now, we will have downloaded the future, the past, and everything in between. We'll all be famous and our dreams will be about the yesterdays of our anonymity. We'll be so information overloaded that none of us will be able to focus on any given topic for more than fifteen seconds; we'll be too overwhelmed. Not to mention the fact that many of us will be blind from all that computer reading and iPod induced-hearing-impaired. At that point, we'll reminisce about the times before when there was pleasure in seeing the cover artwork on a compact disc and reading the artist's song lyrics in its little enclosed booklet and curling up on the sofa with a good read.

However, there's no reason to be entirely pessimistic. Like radio, movies, and television, I really believe that print media will find a way. There are an awful lot of apathetic souls out there, but someone else must care.

We must remember that change is inevitable yet nearly always uncomfortable.

Things in the future may be different than we imagine, but surely print media can maintain a co-existence with the digital media of the future. At least that's my hope.

Read more articles on: print media , digital media , print is dead , future of magazines

KLiedle is a writer for BrooWaha. For more information, visit the writer's website.