How We Educated the New York Times
A zillion clicks taught newspapers they aren't in control.
Links equal relevance.
The New York Times made waves in the media world recently by dismantling its subscription paywall. As a result, anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can now read the entire paper online for free.
The failed paywall experiment of the New York Times is emblematic of the newspaper industry's two-decade-old struggle to survive online. So long as the Internet is perceived as nothing more than a new tool for distributing the news to a passive audience -- readers, citizen and the community more generally, will continue to tune out. For newspapers to survive, a more nuanced understanding of the online world is needed.
The key is grasping that the relationship between communities and their news has fundamentally changed.
You and I are in charge now
Prior to the Internet, people determined what was important by reading what newspaper editors thought was important. Today, people have a host of ways to determine what is important and to connect quickly with stories on those issues. Newspapers can shift their content, and advertising, online, but as long as they believe they are the arbiters of a community's agenda, they will continue to struggle.
Online, people engage with news in two new ways, both of which deviate significantly from the traditional newspaper model.
First, algorithm-based aggregators, such as Google News and Del.icio.us, and human-run websites, such as National Newswatch and the Huffington Post, provide powerful alternatives to the traditional newspaper editor.
Aggregators, both human and algorithm-based, don't care about content's origins, only its relevance to readers. They ferret out the best content from across the web and deposit it on your computer screen. This begs the question: if you could read the best articles drawn from a pool of 100 authors (the approximate number of journalists at a daily newspaper) vs. a pool of 1.5 million posts (the amount of new content created online each day), which would you choose?
But it is the second reason that should most concern newspapers. Younger readers don't just use aggregators. They increasingly read articles found through links from blogs. Rather than roaming within a newspaper's walled gardens, younger readers build their own media communities where a trusted network of bloggers guide them to interesting content. Online, bloggers are the new editors.
Take, for example, the relationship many Canadians have with the prominent blogger Andrew Potter. While most people have never met him in person, his readers know his perspectives and biases, and this personal connection creates a loyal following.
Antithetically, people are also drawn back because they are interested in the places Potter links to, virtually all of which direct readers away from the site he blogs for, Macleans.ca.
Share the good stuff
To most newspapers, the idea of directing traffic away from their news site remains an anathema. Newspaper websites contain virtually no external links. Ironically, this follows the design parameters of a Las Vegas casino -- the goal is to get you in, and not let you leave. Does anyone really believe that all the news and perspectives relevant and important to a community can reside on a single website?
In this manner, newspapers are fighting the very thing that makes the Internet community compelling: its interconnectedness. Like Potter's blog, the Internet's best sites are attractive, not simply because their content is good, but rather because they link to content around the web. And if that content is compelling, readers keep coming back for more guidance.
People enjoy a sense of community, and democracy is strengthened when citizens are informed. The problem is, the New York Times, and virtually every traditional newspaper, fails to understand that a model has emerged that is far better at both delivering information and fostering community than the traditional news industries.
Bad neighbourhood?
Traditional media supporters will assert that these online communities are fragmented, in disagreement, full of scallywags, immature ranters, educated snobs and partisan hacks. And they'd be right. It's messy and it's imperfect. But then, so is the democratic community in which we live. The difference is, in an online community, everyone is telling us and directing us to issues and news items they believe are important.
The New York Times learned this lesson the hard way. After spending two years trying to wall its exclusive content off from the web, it discovered that rather than becoming more exclusive, it was becoming less relevant. Unable to link to its content, aggregators, bloggers and the online community more generally, simply stopped talking about them. Newspapers should heed this lesson. If newspapers want to transition into the online age -- they'll have to join this community, rather than seek to control it. ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
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zalm
4 years ago
Well....
...izzis true? Is the NY Times really capable of recognizing that is't on the verge of becoming obsolete? Like CanWest's on-line droppings, which also recently dropped their subscription firewall?
Not that there's much to read there. A few letters to the editor - sometimes - and perhaps Bramham, Todd and rarely Palmer. Ouston's gone. Dyer's banned. Lee's a sellout. The rest are tombstones to the death by poverty of thought that journalism in BC has become.
And that goes double for the newest recruit to the stable of so-called columnists in the Sun, Miro Cernetig. His global view should be a breath of fresh air - his writing instead has been a succession of stale turds, and that was even before he became a columnist.
Grumpy
4 years ago
But can we..........
.....educate the Vancouver Sun and Province? Can the Aspers be educated? Can the current Editor (oh whats her name?) be educated? Does anyone care in Vancouver?
phillipadsmith
4 years ago
A Pot Shot
C'mon, he didn't even make the Top 100 Canadian political blogs list. He's yesterday's news. ;-)
Just kidding Andrew: you rock.
Phillip.
Working Memory
4 years ago
I care Grump
Good observations zalm. It's too bad about Miro. He started out with a bang. I thought he might turn things around, but you're right, he lost his edge rather quickly.
Newspapers for years passively attacked the internet and aggressively promoted it would never last, all the while desperately trying to figure out how to make money from it and protect their market.
Of all the writers you mentioned zalm, for me at least, Jeff Lee is the biggest disappointment.
It's criminal how news media impedes progress. The 2010 Olympics is a perfect tool to illustrate to our community how news media manipulates the public.
I wrote the following in my blog last week;
"A whopping 13% of people in B.C. report they have been a victim of fraud, while the number was only 4% in Atlantic Canada.
I'm not surprised that British Columbia has the worst record of consumer fraud in Canada. Maybe if local mainstream news media actually did the job they profess, residents here would be smarter and not such sitting ducks for scammers."
Local news media will regret aligning with the IOC against our community because it is now too easy to see how the overall process works and more importantly that local news media are making a fortune off the Olympics while taxpayers and small businesses foot the bill and suffer the inconvenience.
Maurice Cardinal
Editor: www.OlyBLOG.com
AH HA
4 years ago
Talking heads and bird cage liners
This is a good article and raises the obvious; the msm has in short become an object of ridicule in many online homes. It does take cash of course to keep the lights on, so for many if advertising are not used and if it is not an endeavour born of a labour love, donations must make it happen.
Take the Tyee for example without advertising it seems they would be hooped. Now if the Tyee had an open set of forums, they would probably get more cash donations (subscriptions tend to turn people off) by being more user responsive. This would be worthwhile as the punters here frequently outshine the journo’s, and recently on some days I don’t bother with the entire articles, knowing that the commentary will probably be better than the article itself and have better links to further pursue the issue du jour. As a casual observer here I think the place needs it as an evolutionary thing....that is adding open forums where the readership also decides what the content will be and yes that include visuals (pix/inbeds).
There have been many times surfing in general when a link directed me to a news service wanting cash to read an article, click and be gone; a search turns up the same thing but more in depth. The author of this article is right, adapt or perish, online people are savvier than the msm thinks.
Working Memory
4 years ago
Oxford blog URL update
Here's the accurate URL for one one of the blogs listed in the footnotes of the article;
http://www.oxblog.blogspot.com/
Working Memory
4 years ago
AH HA
I thought I was the only one who sometimes skimmed the article and zeroed in on the comments LOL!
Can you imagine what would happen if the Vancouver Sun had comment sections at the end of each article?
It would be a bloodbath.
Readers would spend more time criticising them than they would commenting on the article.
AH HA
4 years ago
Working Memory
Yes I can imagine...if the real GP got to meet with the editorial board at the locals. Or if talk shows didn't screen callers or cut people off, now that would be informative and feckin funny!
Geoff
4 years ago
URL fixed: www.oxblog.blogspot.com/
The broken URL in the Author Information section of the story is now fixed. Thanks for the heads up, Working Memory.
Geoff.
G West
4 years ago
CanWest
I think the Times can take care of itself - despite the recent decision to drop TimesSelect, it's still the ostensible newspaper of record without which it's impossible to have any clear idea of what's up in the world.
Unlike CanWest, which seems to have another agenda entirely - to wit - to do the best it can to assassinate public broadcasting in this country.
It isn't even subtle about it.
This comes from Alex Strachan, in a column about the new Gordon Ramsay Kitchen Nightmares show starting on Global tonight:
I'll quote:
"It's based on Ramsay's wildly popular - and controversial - U.K. program Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and is produced by Toronto's Arthur Smith, a former head of CBC Sports, who traded in working off the taxpayer's dime for the big leagues."
Now that's what I call 'responsible journalism'....
Need I say more?
snert
4 years ago
The who......what?
I quit buying them years ago and don't visit their sites unless they are referenced in an occasional Google News alert.
There is one danger with online media which is that reader habits are very easy to track. Information can then be tailored to suit their reading habits. This could be a good thing but also could lead to another form of media manipulation.
Geoff
4 years ago
and now, with more links...
Hi Everyone,
Someone mentioned to me offline that this story, while informative as far as the content goes, commits the same mistake as other online maintstream media in that it doesn't link to the many of the outside sources mentioned.
Fair comment, I think.
So, I've now added a bunch of links to many of the sources cited.
Geoff.
darcy.mcgee
4 years ago
This is a joke right?
For decades newspapers have made more money on advertising then from selling the news. The cover price you pay doesn't come close to covering the costs of operating any major daily.
Nothing's changed: the New York Times has simply figured out that they can make more revenue by selling the ad space than by charging an entry fee.
Now the Globe...there's a joke...
For the record, pretty much anyone with an Internet connection could ALREADY read it for free by visiting their local library web site and accessing it through various research databases. This was never a secret for those who cared.
IAMC
4 years ago
NYT is biased liberal rag
Who needs he NYT.
I know I don't.
Have they apologized to the Duke lacrosse players they trashed?
How can you take seriously a rag that had Abu Grabe on the front page for 60 days before the 2004 Presidential election?
This piece of crap publication is going out of business. So are the main stream media.
Anyone wondering why the CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, NRO, PBS nightly news are losing audience big time?
Does anyone not see that the public now can clearly see their liberal bias?
The public can see that they are trying to shape the news in order to brainwash the readers.
Can you imagine what it must have been like during the Vietnam War, when all we got was CBS, CBC, NBC, ABC, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, The LA Times.
All telling us the same misinformation.
We are all smarter now.
We have many more choices.
We have Rush, Sean, Mark, Newsbusters.org,
National Review Online, Front Page Magazine, Small Dead Animals, Captain's Quarters, Free Republic, Real Clear Politics and I could go on, but the jig is up liberals.
You are losing the battle for the hearts of the public.
Of course there are still adaptations occurring within the liberal ranks.
moveon.org, the daily kos, media matters, George Soros funding.
There is a whole new world out there that is not controlled by liberals.
Don't let your guard down.
I hope this gets by Ed, because it's important for those that are losing hope to see that someone is tending the light at the end of the tunnel.
G West
4 years ago
You really are at the bottom of the barrel Ron
How is it down there with Rush?
Anyone who gets his news from Fox will always be the last to know...
You? Smarter?
Small dead animals is right. You can be sure there aren't any adaptations occuring on the 'right' Ron; you guys are all running around in circles hoping that 'gay' thing isn't catching.
Oh, and Iraq, how's that little project coming?
What's Bush's popularity up to these days my friend?
Frank
4 years ago
Fair and Balanced (TM) by Ron
Sounds like the nomination list for the Darwin Awards. Too bad their entire combined audience consists of you eh?
Really? The Fox News audience is in control of Congress? The Senate? Umm, looks kinda bad for you Ron. The political peak for you was actually years ago, guess no one told you. But by all means enjoy the coming US election. After Inauguration Day I'm expecting a lot of Republicans to be in jail.
ME2
4 years ago
Maybe I'm wrong ?.
Republican politicos thrown in jail?? Get serious, Frank. The Democrats are the same people with the exact same modus operandi only dressed up to look different. They're unlikely to rock the corruption boat lest they'll have to jump ship too.
It's the same thing here in Canada with the Liberals and Conservatives. When was the last time you saw any of THEM in jail???
gaulois
4 years ago
But where is the money?
For those that understand the huge change in paradigm for the medias, there is unfortunately far more money to be made in undermining these positive forces working for the elites that wish to remain "in control". Hehe.
Counter-media visionary Neil Postman once wrote this book called "Entertaining ourselfes to death", thinking mainly about TV. It most unfortunately scales so well to the Net that it is frightening...
And Chomsky was interviewed more recently by the Le Monde Diplomatique in this article called "Le lavage de cerveaux en liberté". For some langue de Molière, check http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2007/08/CHOMSKY/14992
G West
4 years ago
Electoral Reform and Media manipulation
Another fine example of media manipulation and malfeasance is the result in the Ontario election of the referendum on electoral reform. Their MMP option was superior to our slightly crazy STV option and yet the result was extremely negative.
Why?
How many major columnists did you hear read who were just 'discussing' and explaining the issue?
How many were dissing it?
I just heard the turnout was only 52%. Can that be right?
I think the media is strill trying to 'educate' the people...and not in a good way.
Frank
4 years ago
True
No argument from me ME2 except to say that I believe there is a lot of Democrats who would push the Democrats away from the Republican but the 2 party system forces the party to cuddle up to the Republicans being as they are fighting over swing voters, who are far to the right of many Democrats.
Frank
4 years ago
Bill Tielman
G, did you notice Bill Tielman is against both STV and MMP?
Guess he loves falling turnout numbers.
G West
4 years ago
Yep
I saw that Frank - and asked him for an explanation - which hasn't been forthcoming as yet. I think there's another problem growing in the realm of political awareness.
Twenty years ago politicians and their supporters actually went door to door and spoke to voters... I know, I did a lot of it on the prairies, in Ottawa and here in BC.
Now everything is done by telephone and there is much too much reliance on the internet - politicians and professional hangers on have taken over and the average voter and his/her personal involvement is, in some ways, really frowned upon.
The media's attitude toward MMP in Ontario - I think I only read one columnist (Salutin) who was wholeheartedly in favour - is pretty typical. These guys say the voter is always right but they really don't believe that - they want to be in the position of 'mediating' these things and - as you point out - don't seem too concerned about the public's diminishing engagement in the process.
As you know, you and I are on opposite sides of STV but, even given what I see as flaws (and you think are positives) I’ll still be voting yes because, bad as it is, it will be better than the mess we have now…
EB
4 years ago
One statement in article not entirely true
"Newspaper websites contain virtually no external links."
I'd ask, which newspaper sites are you looking at?
At least one newspaper in Alaska (not all that far away from Vancouver) devotes an entire portion of its web site to external content, including other papers, bloggers and YouTubers, and many stories published in the paper have external links for readers to look at source material.
Check out
www.adn.com/newsreader
G West
4 years ago
Lots of external links in NYTimes articles too
Check out Frank Rich sometime.
IAMC
4 years ago
Google this
I see Google has banned any advertisement against moveon.org.
Google, who donates millions of dollars to the Democratic Party.
Is this a copy of the mainstream media we had in the 60's and 70's and 80's and 90's and up until earlier in this century when we finally broke through the propaganda that we got from CBS, CBC, NBC, CNN, ABC, New York Times, PBC, NPR.
Which one of these organisations were giving a fair break to conservatives? None of them.
The new media fears the mention of the Fairness Doctrine, which attempted to force media to provide a counterpoint to reports that expressed one political view, with a n opportunity for the other side to present a counterpoint.
It was a nightmare to administrate, but let's go for it.
Let's make CBC, CNN, and the rest of the old media to provide a counterpoint to their liberal, American hating, self righteous views, that seem to be designed to bring down the American Empire.
Bring it on.
Let the Inconvenient Truth be shown, followed by The Great Global Warming Swindle.
The mainstream media, has had their way with bashing conservatism for 59 years,
Bill Moyer, go to the rest home with Jimmy Carter.
By the way, Rush has a listening audience of 20 million people.
Nobody even comes close.
Throw in Sean Hannity in the afternoon, and they have the power to change the course of stupid Congressional missions like amnesty for ILLEGAL immigrants.
It shook the liberal establishment.
George Soros, will run out of money trying to defeat America.
Oh what a lovely world we now live in, with freedom of information, and the death of main stream media ( CBC, CTV, CBS, CNN, PBC, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail )
How are you libs going to deal with this?
By treating us like smokers?
G West
4 years ago
tongue tied?
This looks like exactly the same stuff you posted yesterday Ron, whazzup? Runing low on vitriol.
Hope you noticed how low the Republican bimbos decided they could go when they attacked Graeme Frost. You and Rush have SO much to be proud of...
Frank
4 years ago
Fairness?
Ron, are you trying to once again say that every time someone mentions the Holocaust someone from the other side should be given equal time?
That every time someone says abusing kids is wrong that someone from the other side should have their say?
That every time someone mentions the law of gravity Rush and Hannity can be given time to demand that it be changed.
The problem with the right-wing "fairness doctrine" is that you guys are always trying to argue with reality and I see no reason why your fantasies should be given equal time with reality anywhere outside of Fox News and Clear Channel.
garryw
4 years ago
newspapers
Why would any sane person pay a rich guy to bs them. Sun/Province are so irrelevent for anyone not interested in sports