Stuff you can still only get from newspapers

Believe it or not, there is still stuff (and I choose to use this ugly word on purpose) that you can only get from newspapers.

As I've written about before, the move of news onto the Internet has killed a lot of the design elements that make print products so great.

In a Slate article about reading newspapers on a Kindle, I found many of the same arguments. The Kindle is a great idea, except that instead of giving straight-up Web news, or the print version on the screen, it offers a third form that takes the worst from both.

One of the main reasons Web news is great is because it's instantaneous, but the Kindle misses that by only updating once a day. So, it ruins the whole point of getting the newspaper on a screen, unless you're just trying to keep your hands clean of newsprint. You're still getting old news.

And even if you love the print version but just want to see it an electronic format, you can't get that from the Kindle, either. Subscriptions on the Kindle deliver the news in a unique format, without the aesthetic appeal of good graphics, carefully designed pages or (and most important) the editorial input found with headlines of different sizes and stories placed with specific prominence.

As much as people argue that they want to be able to pick and choose their own news, what they usually mean is that they want sources where they can find the news they want. They don't mean that they want their news streaming across a screen in all one size font with no breaks, headlines or editorial input such as graphics and slightly sensational headlines. (Although no online or electronic reader sources...except for maybe Drudge report...go to the extreme of no design, it's fair to say there's some serious lack of design creativity on the Web and electronic readers.)

Basically, electronic and Web news is now like newspapers were hundreds of years ago, in the days of smooshed text and multiple decks. The hope is that the revolution to the modern version of print, with beautiful graphics, clean spacing and a laid-out page that makes navigating the news easy, will come soon to these new media.

Here's a grand idea: Just put the print versions on the Kindle, and fill in the different news holes with updates throughout the day. The shock! The difficulty! What, keep using a good model? And there could be advertising on these pages as well? No! It cannot be done!

I have no clue why newspapers are not moving toward their own readers, which could do this and, in turn, save their beautiful printed pages by having them transposed onto a screen.

And remember, Amazon takes 70 percent of all subscriptions run on the Kindle. 70 percent. What do the newspapers have to lose?