I couldn’t help but notice the irony of BusinessWeek selecting Southwest Airlines as a “2008 Customer Service Champ” in its March 3rd publication and hearing the discount airline was slapped with the largest safety violation fine in FAA history less than a week later for allegedly flying dozens of jets without mandatory inspections for structural damage. I don’t know about everyone else, but potentially flying unsafe jets strikes me to be a bit more of a customer service issue than reported improvements at the airline’s boarding gates.

My point isn’t about whether or not BusinessWeek missed the bigger issue here in its annual analysis, but rather the timeliness of information from online to print. We live in a time when printed publications are so outdated by the time you read them that the value of purchasing the morning newspaper or weekly magazine continues to diminish. That doesn’t mean BusinessWeek isn’t a fine publication. It’s valued perspective is still needed, but the concept of publishing daily and weekly publications will continue to wither away. The content will all be digital.

Most days I feel like I’ve already seen or read about half of what’s in the morning Boston Globe by the time I finish my first cup of coffee. I learned about the tragic death of UNC student Eve Carson, which occurred just a few miles away from where my daughter attends school, within hours of the event being reported by police. Years ago, I would not have not known that until the next day’s newspaper. We will never go back to those days.

Many of the world’s top communicators are already preparing for the days of no print. Duncan Wardle, the head of global PR for Disney Parks & Resorts, is among those who believe print and broadcast TV news are on their way to extinction. If you haven’t heard Duncan’s remarks from last Fall’s PRSA conference in Philadelphia, take a listen to his podcast with Eric Schwartzman.

And just for the record, Southwest is appealing the fine.

Mike Spataro