- Welcome to The Newsfeed.

I'm Venice Buhain, in for Paris Jackson.

VHS and other magnetic media empowered people to record everything from public spectacles to home life.

But the tape and media are degrading, and archivists are sounding the alarm that history will be lost if they aren't saved.

Multimedia Journalist Jaelynn Grisso has more on a local organization's efforts to preserve history.

- Everything change now.

Everything change.

- MIPoPS, or Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound, works with a range of organizations in the region to preserve their magnetic media, such as VHS or audio cassettes.

Magnetic media degrades more quickly than other media types like film.

For example, a standard VHS tape only lasts for 10 to 30 years.

That's why the Library of Congress estimates most magnetic media will need to be digitized and archived by 2032.

Acting Executive Director Libby Hopfauf told me it's also important to preserve this media specifically, because of the role it played in giving more widespread access to recording.

- When video was introduced, a lot more people were able to purchase the equipment and all of the tapes that they had.

And that's just really important because a lot of communities who didn't really have a voice in moving image recordings were able to document their stories and their cultures and their experience.

- MIPoPS has already digitized more than 12,000 tapes, but Hopfauf says there are thousands more to go before the deadline.

- There's a lot of urgency around that to help support those preservation efforts before time runs out and that important, unique content is lost forever.

- Next time, we'll tell you more about an independent theater making a comeback because of the work of a South Asian film organization.

I'm Venice Buhain.

Thank you for watching The Newsfeed.