Vital role of newspapers goes beyond print

Imagine waking up in a world without newspapers. "Ha!" You say, "I haven't gotten a newspaper in years." But I'm not talking about just the paper delivered by carriers or the postal service. I'm talking about the news online, the links on social media, the email newsletter, the source cited in the television broadcast and the push notification on your phone. The word newspaper no longer reflects the media industry encompassed by the word.

It's time to debunk the idea "Newspapers Are Dying."

The newspaper business has changed a lot. But so what? Lots of industries go through ups-and-downs as technologies and customer preferences change. Name an industry -- cars, airlines, energy, retail, accounting, transportation, construction -- and the underlying economic drivers look a lot different than they did in the 1980s. That doesn't mean they are "dead" businesses. People want and need the underlying products and services and the industries adapt to be successful in the new world.

We are living in the age of information. According to a University of Southern California study, Americans are absorbing five times more information a day than in 1986. And as the demand for quality news grows, storytelling evolves. I think that we have only just begun to explore the incredible upside of new tools in telling compelling news stories. What if we could not only tell people about Syria but also put them there (virtually) to experience some aspects for themselves?

All evidence shows that people of all ages want and consume more news than ever. We need to focus on new ways to address the needs of audience. Legacy newspapers are considered trusted sources of information; we must continue to keep that trust as we experiment in the digital age. Live streaming, social media and video are just tools for better stories as journalists fight to keep readers in the know.

This week, we celebrate the 76th National Newspaper Week, where we celebrate newspapers as the "Way to Know." It is a time to be grateful for the news carriers that trudge through the streets hours before you've had your first cup of coffee to deliver you the news. We take this week to realize that what we know comes from hardworking editors and journalists, who decide what information to put in front of us each day. We celebrate that we can count on them to go into a tragedy and bring us back hope. They make politics human and science easy to read.

I don't want to imagine a world without newspapers, do you?

David Chavern serves as President & CEO of the News Media Alliance. He recently completed a decade-long tenure at the United States Chamber of Commerce.