Category: Culture

Creative Destruction in the Newspaper Industry

I saw two things today that somehow connected in my mind. The first was an advert for scholarships for computer programmers to Northwestern’s journalism school (link):
Are you a skilled programmer or Web developer? Are you interested in applying your talents to the challenge of creating a better-informed society? Do you want to learn how to find, analyze and present socially relevant information that engages media audiences? Do you see possibilities for applying technology as a way to connect people and information on the Web or new delivery platforms?

The second item was the announcement that one of Seattle’s two major daily newspapers is up for sale and that it will probably cease as a printed paper no matter what happens:
For sale: The P-I

There are a few things to think about here. A simple one is that the printed newspaper as a product is obviously headed for oblivion. The web is far superior at news delivery, especially extended coverage of breaking news (television isn’t good at the “extended” part). Even the bad part of electronically delivered news (reading off a computer screen) has solutions on the near term horizon (e-book readers). You could say that the journalism school is ahead of the game here, looking to turn programmers into journalists who “get” the future of journalism.

I wonder why anyone would be looking to journalism as a second career at this point though. I can understand that the current upheaval in the computer industry would make a career change attractive, but what we got going in IT ain’t nothin’ compared to the outright carnage happening in journalism.

There is an open question about what is the future of journalism: is it trained journalists researching stories or is it bloggers and “citizen journalists” doing it on their own? I’ve never been one to think that interested amateurs can completely replace experienced professional writers, and I still feel that way. The big stories require real journalists, sniffing out the stories over long periods of time and really getting to the bottom of the issues. However, 95% of professional journalism isn’t that. It’s coverage of city council meetings and the daily reportage that some people care a lot about, some people care a little about and the rest of the people care very little about. Those kinds of things are perfect for the interested and excited amateurs and it is that where the blogging community has been eating away at the journalism community. Without young reporters getting their start on that daily grind kind of stuff, however, I’m not sure how folks become the in-depth-extended-research kinds of reporters.

I honestly don’t think that the future of journalism is going to come from the programmers (even those with masters degrees in journalism). I think it is going to come from the thousands of laid-off reporters being released into the world. I hope that many will start to explore the possibilities and I expect at least one will end up changing what journalism is as we know it.

And I was starting to feel good about us as a nation again…

Wal-Mart worker dies in rush; two killed at toy store – CNN.com
a temporary Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death in a rush of thousands of early morning shoppers as he and other employees attempted to unlock the doors of a Long Island, New York, store at 5 a.m., police said.

NBC stop lying to me

Dear NBC,

I just watched the final on the CBC, don’t show me video of the team getting off the bus and say that they just arrived and competition should get started in about an hour.

Morons.

Yer pal,

Kevin

[update 11:21PM PST]
NBC is now claiming to be broadcasting something “live” that the New York Times has already reported the outcome of and the CBC actually did broadcast live a few hours ago. I can understand tape delay for the west coast, but three hours ago was prime time on the west coast. You could have shown it then. And don’t freaking call it live when it isn’t.

Great Clay Shirky speech

I just read this really excellent talk that Clay Shirky gave at Web 2.0 about how we are (and should) switch from a content consuming society into a production society (content or otherwise). At its simplest, it is a call to spend less time watching TV, but it is quite elegant. A short read, highly recommended: http://www.herecomeseverybody.org/2008/04/looking-for-the-mouse.html

[via @jeffjarvis]

Hey business traveller!

The next time you spend the entire flight standing in the fucking aisle next to me having an impromptu business meeting with three of your colleagues spread over multiple rows, surrounded by other folk, I’m going to record your entire conversation and then transcribe it so that your competitors can get every piece of information. I mean I now know your entire strategy of getting Boeing to buy your crappy parts. Real genius move talking about that loudly on a flight between Seattle and Chicago. No chance some salesmen from some other parts company might be on that flight.

This also goes for you people who have loud personal conversations on their cellphones next to me when I am stuck waiting for people to deplane so I can get away from you.

What does this say about us as Americans? That we are so egotistic and self-centered that we either don’t notice the other people around us or that we just don’t care because the other people around us are just ants? I used to ask politely for people to not shout their personal details or business plans into my ears, but mostly I would get a impolite response amounting to a “I don’t care if I’m annoying you, that is your problem, not mine.”

Well, from now on: I won’t get mad, I’ll get even.

My Dearest Wired

We’ve been together a long time. Back since issue #1. Back then, we were both crazy kids, I was just a year or two out of college, starting my career in technology and you were the inside-outsider watching the whole thing happen and feeding me juicy bits of info. I thought it could last forever, but things change. As the industry you documented outgrew you, you started to seem a bit anachronistic. You couldn’t keep up. The juicy news you purveyed was old hat by the time your issues arrived. Then you shacked up with Conde Nast, and all of the sudden you were filled with more advertisements than the websites you covered. I started to check out of our relationship, I couldn’t help myself. I went from devouring you each time you showed up at my door to skimming you and reading only things that seemed interesting. Over time that was less and less. Now, there is a stack of unread copies of you sitting on my nightstand.

Your siren song, your low-priced subscription renewal beckons, but this time it is really over. I’d like to say that it’s me, not you, but really, it’s you. You’re running with a different crowd now, a crowd more concerned with lifestyle then technology. I hardly know you anymore. I’ve got to move on.

hollywood reaches a new low

Ok, Hollywood makes movies from books. Hollywood makes movies from musicals. Hollywood has made movies from musicals from movies (The Producers, Hairspray). But now, Hollywood is making movies from musicals from movies from books (Phantom of the Opera). I can’t wait to see the movie from the musical from the movie from the musical from the movie from the book.

The future looks bright and a little scary

The graphic below points out one scary thing, which is that the kids are just as much against a woman’s right to chose as the rest of the moronic population. The article mentions a second scary thing, which is that they also believe we will win in Iraq. So, I’m not sure I want to call them more liberal as a whole. More open to equality between races, sexes and gender preference, sure. Another way to think of that is enlightenment as opposed to political leanings. It is just showing the maturity in society as a whole. On the other real, liberal with a big L, issues: war, environment, a woman’s right to choose; they are just as conservative as their seniors.

Young Americans Are Leaning Left, New Poll Finds – New York Times

NY Times Graphic