The blogosphere lit up this weekend thanks to a long post by Clay Shirky: Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable. His thesis is that newspapers saw the web coming way back in the 1990s, and thought hard about how to deal with it. Then they made all the wrong decisions.
The curious thing about the various plans hatched in the ’90s is that they were, at base, all the same plan: "Here’s how we’re going to preserve the old forms of organization in a world of cheap perfect copies!"
The details differed, but the core assumption behind all imagined outcomes (save the unthinkable one) was that the organizational form of the newspaper, as a general-purpose vehicle for publishing a variety of news and opinion, was basically sound, and only needed a digital facelift. As a result, the conversation has degenerated into the enthusiastic grasping at straws, pursued by skeptical responses.
Shirky draws an analogy with the very early days of printing: "What was life like in 1500," when the print revolution was under way but not fully established?
Chaotic, as it turns out. The Bible was translated into local languages; was this an educational boon or the work of the devil? Erotic novels appeared, prompting the same set of questions. Copies of Aristotle and Galen circulated widely, but direct encounter with the relevant texts revealed that the two sources clashed, tarnishing faith in the Ancients. As novelty spread, old institutions seemed exhausted while new ones seemed untrustworthy; as a result, people almost literally didn't know what to think.
So what happens when the print media fold and the online media have nothing to draw upon?
I don't know. Nobody knows. We're collectively living through 1500, when it's easier to see what's broken than what will replace it. The internet turns 40 this fall. Access by the general public is less than half that age. Web use, as a normal part of life for a majority of the developed world, is less than half that age. We just got here. Even the revolutionaries can’t predict what will happen.
Crawford Kilian is a contributing editor of The Tyee.
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Aimless
3 years ago
Back to a focus on readers
I worked at a small community (CanWest) newspaper some years ago, and it was a shock to me to what extent the operation was ad-driven. The so-called "news hole," which i had once assumed to be a newspaper's raison d'etre, was callously minimized and just there to bring readers' eyes to the ads on the page.
With such a disrespectful approach to readers, it's no wonder they flee the traditional newspaper when other, more reader-focussed media (like thetyee.ca) appear.
I am hopeful that meaningful press will survive; i just don't think for-profit enterprise will provide it. Come to think of it, i have little faith anymore that for-profit enterprise provides much if anything for the larger public good.
dgiVista.org
3 years ago
Look to community newspapers
They have a simpler survival model, they invigorate community itself [the locus of existence as we re-frame the local, national and global economies] and they reflect life as people know it within their neighbourhoods.
Keep Reading Your Community Newspapers, Or Else
cocean
3 years ago
Sounds familiar
"Newspapers saw the web coming way back in the 1990s, and thought hard about how to deal with it. Then they made all the wrong decisions."
Sounds familiar. The Wee Three saw the go-green, go-small movement coming way back in the 1990s (and earlier). Rather than think hard about how to deal with it, they opted to flood the market with fossil fuel-guzzling, big autos.
Wrong decision. Except they likely knew that if/when their companies failed, governments would bail them out.
morechatter
3 years ago
Its What Wrong With The Story
Its driven by greedy investors who want more bang for their buck, along with a wonderful tool for influencing public opinion especially when you can do it from all forms of media this way people get the message so the ying and yang are left in the black. Its the whole Greed Machine Rules as Greed is Good. Its a real good motivator for ripping off people as many are left wondering who do you believe? Do you believe the guy who left your pockets? Or the guy who promises to fill them but then thats another story but not so much as politics and news go hand in hand as they have a marriage of means if you know what I mean jelly bean.
morechatter
3 years ago
Correction:
Do you believe the guy who left your pockets empty? Or the guy who promises to fill them? Its confusing as you know the minute you got money in your pockets they got some new tax to get at it. Any new taxes lately despite being told you were getting a tax break as the News peddles its wears. Or better word for wear and tear on the public as its becomes a piece of fiction.
SharingIsGood
3 years ago
my small town
In my small town, even the local weeklies have been being overtaken by free (often-daily) no frills 8 1/2x11 white bond advertizers that publish the real local news/gossip and sometimes give commentary on provincial, national, and even international issues. It seems to work well enough to feed a few people who act as writer-editor-publisher-deliverer. They cart these around to local businesses and place them in their newspaper racks. Many local businesses (restaurants and drugstores etc.) like them as it gets people coming into their store. Any profits made, stay in town; profits are not shipped off to a company or individual who owns a string of community weeklies.
Tbarnston
3 years ago
Reclaiming Critical Thinking
The "news" is diverging in to two forms:
Corporate slop for the great unwashed, and independent blogs/aggregators/non-profit info sites for those who choose to exercise their critical thinking skills.
With the web, it is much easier to keep our news sources honest with sharp, real time criticism of their work. Newspapers were able to manage feedback to fit their agenda, and it has proven to be their great Achilles heel. They have managed themselves in to irrelevance.
We will be just fine without corrupt, slop filled newspapers.
RickW
3 years ago
We will be just fine without corrupt, slop filled newspapers.
Not to mention all those trees that can stay standing.
But then, that just reminds me of the real reason W.R. Hearst pushed for the outlawing of hemp..........
http://www.lusabooks.com/nontree.html
While it may not relieve us of the "slop", perhaps it will set in motion a change of mindset. People generally, are TIRED of the "slop" that passes for news. Maybe using "non-tree fibre" might reinvigorate the reading public. Don't ask me how -- I'm just being an optimist here........
NicS
3 years ago
SharingIsGood idea.
We have the same single sheet of paper rag around town. It is a start, but very limited in controversial items, like politics. And the local CanWest rag won't give fair press to anything left leaning. My ex-brother inlaw owns one of those small town news papers and he won't publish "any" political views. Says it just ain't worth the trouble, he sells all the ads he needs to as it is.