Letter : Too soon to write off books and switch on to the Internet

Mervyn Jones
Monday 29 April 1996 23:02 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Sir: "Have we reached the end of the book?" asks John Walsh. This article has had many pegs: the arrival of the cinema (before 1910), of the radio (1920s), of television (1940s), of the VCR (1970s), and now the Internet. I can hardly believe that somebody is getting paid to write it again.

Young people today have a wonderful choice of media for learning and entertainment. They avail themselves of all these media. There was never a time when everybody read books in preference to going to the music-hall or the pub sing-song. There was never a time when one medium eclipsed its predecessors.

Mervyn Jones

London SW1

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in