These well-informed young people had a very modest interest in the print media. Unlike me, they didn't feel their day was incomplete without reading a newspaper.Total newspaper circulation has been declining by roughly a million copies each year. And yet a review of the main stories in the national papers continues to be a regular feature of this programme. Items in broadcast news frequently take their cue from reports in the press. I wonder how low circulations will have to fall before such regard for the print media disappears.My guess is it may take a long time. We all seem to give greater authority to what is written than what is spoken. We know we can say things unthinkingly and stupidly. As the letter of James in the New Testament says "the tongue is an unruly member". But cruel words spoken in an outburst of temper are less hurtful than the same words written in a letter and sent by post. The written word has a very deliberate intention behind it. We speak about seeing things in black and white. On receiving a helpful letter we may say of someone "she's taken the trouble to write".