DISQUS

Eric Berlin · 2 years ago

I agree Mathew, it's that evolution that will be painful in some ways for traditional media companies and part of the "creative destruction" (or whatever) that the proliferation of technology and new media outlets (free, online, etc.) are causing. It's the same for the music industry and large media companies (see: Viacom v. Google/youtube for a recent example).

All of the rules are changing, new players are coming onto the scene, and newspaper companies and all old line media corporations need to evolve quickly to stay relevant. So it's interesting to me that companies such as the NYT company and Conde Nast are making acquisitions and in some ways changing the way they present information to online audiences. Netscape is another innovator, I'll wager, in adopting a digg-like model.

Rob Hyndman · 2 years ago

I wonder, Mathew - is it really even about just the 'news'? Newspapers do so much more, after all, don't they? Most of the sections of the Saturday Globe probably don't contain "news" any more, after all? And that's made it a very pleasurable read for a long time.

I frankly think far too much of the talk is about very narrow conceptions about newspapers can become when they evolve. Most of the suggestions I read really only speak to the next 12-36 months of evolution. All of that, I think, is trivial compared to the longer view question of what newspapers will be when all media is distributed digitally and can be text, video, audio, community, and so on, in whatever measure makes sense to the reader / viewer / listener / community. That's what I fastened on today.

Historically, media has been categorized according to format. But that is going to be decreasingly relevant as time passes. It will all be infomedia, consumed in whatever format makes sense for the story being told and the audience's taste. Call it the great covergence. Or call it Alfred, whatever. But it's what's really next, IMO.

So, how will newspapers fare going into that process?

Put another way, all of this talk about whether there ought to be comments, if so should they be moderated, and so on - the stuff that Doc and Dave Winer are focusing on - seems like ground cover compared to the broader questions.

Last point - how does CanCon fare in the great convergence? A fascinating question that *no one*, as far as I can tell, is talking about, at least in the outside-of-US English blogosphere.

:)

Mathew · 2 years ago

I think you are quite right, Rob. It is about more than just news -- or rather, the definition of what is news is becoming broader, and the format is ceasing to matter as much, as you point out.

And it's worth wondering what newspapers can or will become in that kind of world -- but I think there is still a place for a smart aggregator or filter or some such thing.

Whether any of the existing media entities fill that role remains to be seen, I guess :-)

Rob Hyndman · 2 years ago

It will be - ahem - interesting to see what develops in 'converged' media in the months ahead. :)

SFGary · 2 years ago

When I ask the question: who will gather, edit and distribute the news most bloggers are puzzled. I get the feeling a lot of them have not given it a lot of thought and they play "follow the leader." Quoting other bloggers does not answer the question, its just passing the buck.

More in depth questions like: is the reporting dependable, is he/she a journalist, who is paying them is beyond a lot of people.

I am no big fan of my local newsrag, the SF Chron, which is more of a small town paper than this city deserves but I would much rather get the news from them and other established news organizations than a twitter enabled inexperienced newsblogger.

Its well acknowledged that news papers have to evolve, but declaring them dead is a bit premature.

Nick · 2 years ago

News will never die, but use of paper only goes so far. Digital is the new realm, newspapers will fall eventually.

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