There has been a rumour going around for the past ten years or so that magazines are dying and the internet is the cause.  Recently if you were the sort to read various web and newspaper blogs you would have seen a debate starting around the future, or lack thereof, for the printed newspaper industry.  Inevitably thoughts turn to print magazines and their future.

A great quote popped up in the debate over newspapers, "When a 14 year old kid can blow up your business in his spare time, not because he hates you but because he loves you, then you got a problem."  The thought being that scanning and sharing information is so easy now that if you love something if can be scanned, put online, on forums and around the world in minutes.  We need to be careful of this in our world.  It isn't blogs like this, or forums, or enthusiasts sites that will cause issues for car magazines, it is scanning and sharing content that is still available on the shelves, or for order in back catalogues.

People often thought that blogs, forums and video sites would sound the death knell for traditional magazines, but that hasn't happened, at least not in the world of retro and classic cars.  Magazines fill a fundamental gap in our scene, that of depth and contextualisation.  Sure I can read a twenty eight page build thread, with photos, on a car they are featuring, but journalists should be giving us more depth, and usually are.  The journalist finds out the motivations and the inspirations, they give us a visceral description of the experience of the car, the look, the feel, how it drives.  They can never put is int he driving seat of the car, but they can pull us into their experience of it.  This is not something your average blog or website can do.

Right now I like to think that websites are pushing magazines to be better, be more in-depth, as that is their unique selling point.  They can spend the time, as it is their full time job, whereas a lot of websites are done in the spare time of a handful of enthusiasts.  The magazine industry has attempted to get online in many ways, the problem always seems to be one of making money though, until that nut is cracked paper magazines will always be able to pay great photographers and writers more than their online alternatives.  Although they do face the prospect that if they do crack that nut people already well versed in the online world will be able to do it better.  Or may work it out first.

In these difficult economic times magazines can struggle with advertising and can be faced with harsh decisions.  Make sure you are out there supporting them, if you are one of those regular 'shop readers' maybe try buying the magazine instead and show your support, we need magazines as much now as we ever did.