Comments on: Reflections

By: tony

tony — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:53:37 +0000

thanks as always for the love Doc!

Go Cubs Go!

By: Christian Einfeldt

Christian Einfeldt — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 22:40:57 +0000

At the risk of being unpopular here, I will say that newspapers and really all the major news have failed to deliver balanced coverage for years; and have failed to do more than rewrite the US Administration’s press releases for years; and as a result are now reaping the harvest of the abandonment of their responsibility. Yes, journalism is a business, but the media has failed to lead, and has, instead, allowed public opinion to drive its editorial direction, coupled with conservative editors wanting to support a conservative viewpoint that seems partisan to the average reader.

I’m not sure that big media is failing; I just think that its market share is shrinking. Democracies will always need the muscle and experience of big media to get at the hard-to-find stories that distributed media like bloggers miss; and democracies will also need the muscle of big media to create a prominent platform upon which to disseminate the really important stories of the day.

The question is whether big media will have the courage to tell the stories that need to be told in the face of their imperative as businesses to make a profit. There is an inherent problem with running journalism as a business, and that is telling stories that the readers might not like. Distributed media like bloggers can do that, because they have a different imperative. The question is whether big media can square their bottom line imperative with their mission as vanguards of truth in a democracy.

By: mary hodder

mary hodder — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:31:46 +0000

I don’t think paper newspapers are about to die. I think they have died already.

When I walk downtown, past all the public transit outlets, to my gym, I see box after abandoned box. These empty haven’t-been used-in-a-long-time newspaper boxes have the names of essentially abandoned newspaper companies. And in some areas, over the last few weeks, I’m watching those rows of boxes get uninstalled as the city realizes that they aren’t needed and no one is using them.

In the meantime, no one has done much to figure out how to make ads pay well enough to save the industry, or better yet figure out how to make journalism and reporting that lead to things that make money. The “because of” economy is budding at best.

It’s frustrating because we obviously need reporting and journalism to function in a democracy, and the newspaper biz has had Jeff, Vin Crosbie and many others addressing this problem for years, with little movement or innovation.

By: Doc Searls

Doc Searls — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:31:09 +0000

justcorbly,

I don’t want to speak for Jeff here, but I don’t think he’s gloating. I think he’s expressing frustration at having given good advice for years and not having it heard.

By: Mike Warot

Mike Warot — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:31:44 +0000

Corbly, I agree entirely. If we have no means of deriving the truth collectively, then we’re screwed.

I think we need to get going on Social Journalism, before time runs out…

I’ve written up a screed/kernel of a manifesto here: http://mikewarot.blogspot.com/2008/09/we-need-social-journalism-now.html

–Mike–

By: justcorbly

justcorbly — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:48:40 +0000

What concerns me about newspaper cutbacks is not that less news is being distributed on paper, but that the number of people paid to find and report the news is decreasing, regardless of how that news is delivered. That means less news, period. Blogers like Jarvis have shown no interest and no ability to fill that gap.

I hold the opinion that almost all bloggers use the news of the day simply to trigger a post expressing their opinion. A blogger’s opinion is not news.

Jarvis and other often seem to gloat about the problems in the newspaper industry. I do not undersand why.