Jack Shafer got it right on Slate yesterday, outlining in quick form why digital news is eating the heart out of news papers. He also has a long list of all the jobs -- from pimps to travel agents -- that have been rendered obsolete by the growing ability to do just about everything online. He calls it a "digital slay-ride."
But just because print is terminally ill -- he doesn't give up on news. Nor should we.
Which leads to number two: Politico's Michael Calderone reports that the ASNE (The American Society of Newspaper Editors) is debating taking "paper" out of its name. Which puts the focus where it should be -- on the news itself, rather than the way it's delivered. It's a symbolic move, but optimistic in its own way, possibly shifting the debate to what really matters: journalism, in all its many forms.
Whaddya think? bk
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j.linx: news, connections and conversations on the future of journalism
- barbara kelley
- I teach journalism and direct the journalism emphasis at Santa Clara University. As a freelance journalist, i have written for daily newspapers and their Sunday magazine sections as well as a variety of regional and national magazines. Among them: Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Los Angeles Times, salon.com, California Magazine, San Francisco Magazine, Utne Reader, Health Magazine, Parenting Magazine, Redbook, Bay Area Parent and Pacific News Service. This blog is for students -- and anyone else who wants to join the conversation about the future of journalism.
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3 comments:
they still call it writing, though. are we all doomed to become "typists"? :)
Very interesting, but...... What is going to happen to the long form investigative pieces?? WHO will pay for them? WHY would they be written when the internet devours things at warp speed? WHEN will reporters have the time and encouragement and financial backing to produce them?
I wish i could be as sanguine as some, but I think that they will be the next casualty, if they aren't already.
Investigative reporting is in danger, but organizations like Pro Publica and the Center for Investigative Reporting are helping to fill that potential gap.
Robert Rosenthal, head of the CIR, came to speak at Columbia earlier this year, and talked about starting new ventures they were undertaking as a result of news orgs. cutting back. One of them was specifically in California.
His organization was trying to find a new model to fund investigative reporting and the news in general, which is part of the answer that's needed here.
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