Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, was this weeks (very well attended...) lecturer on the R&R series.Although he too spoke about the threats to print from online and UGC he did it from more of a perspective of someone at the very top, the front line and who was as in the dark about the future as anyone else.
He was open and honest on both the opportunities this new wave of Web2.0 has created for the media, and the downright annoyance at the loss of the old, top-down and basically all-powerful media world that existed just five or six years ago.
From the dramatic rise of The Huffington Post in the USA, a website with a far higher hit rate than the NY Times website, (and which bizarrely was started on May 9, my birthday, and features a blogger named Dan Worth, my namesake...), to the Independent's re-interpretation of a newspaper as a "viewspaper" it was an interesting look at the changing world of the newspaper. A world on which even Rupert Murdoch has said "I can't predict five years ahead."
He discussed the unique perspectives offered by their "Comment is Free" section and the way the instant responses that can be posted on commentators posts has helped improve the quality of journalism. The instant response has created a fear of being jumped on and criticised by the mass army of readers and bloggers out there who are just waiting for a reason to attack.
The newspaper people shifted uneasily at his frank and discomforting reply to a question about being worried at the decline of newspaper sales with the response of "Yes, yes I would be worried."
On one level it was a fascinating look at the future, or possible lack of, for newspapers and on another it made me glad I'm studying magazine journalism...although it's not all good news for magazines either...
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1 comment:
David:
This is the way that I see it.
Journalists like Alan Rusbridger by trade are not businessmen. They are journalists. In many respects he and others professing on this subject regarding the future of print media may be disingenuous. It appears that by what you wrote, that he was at a loss to even envision any future models for print.
Rupert Murdoch the businessman was able to at least state that he cannot predict five years into the future. He, however, I can assure you, has analyzed scenarios that may happen within that future time frame regarding print. While he stated that he cannot predict the five-year future, he certainly envisions one with it. Murdoch is not selling his newspapers just yet.
Such a conundrum and debate reminds me of the American television broadcast model that was firmly ensconced until the advent of cable television. It reminds me of the motion picture industry's deep concerns years ago with the advent of television itself. It reminds me of the gargantuan print entities snubbing and belittling television's efforts for journalistic integrity when the American television industry was in its infancy. It reminds me of the threat AM radio wigs perceived when FM radio became widely available.
Many popular bloggers around the world, who themselves operate on scant earnings, still rely on traditional media for most of their information to pundit on. The blogger's operation model is not set up in a way that directly threatens any traditional media anywhere in the world today. Threatens them financially that is.
What I am convinced has happened over the last few years is that print has become a stagnant product. Newspapers that are deemed to be in trouble are not run by innovative people at the top. Many newspapers have failed to endear themselves to the public and many have absolutely failed to cultivate Generation-X and Generation-Next to their product.
Not surprisingly, the threat to print may be print itself. People like Alan Rusbridger may someday be replaced by people named Alan RUST-bridger.
On a separate note Mr. Worth, I was examining your profile and to my surprise read that you are a fan of Jeff Buckley. I am a big fan of the late Jeff Buckley. I had the divine experience of being at Sin-é when Buckley recorded the album of the same name. I was so impressed with this hole-in-the-wall sized club, that I returned soon after that to see some other unknown band at the time called "The Wallflowers". I remember being there just a few feet away, in this living-room type atmosphere, when unbeknownst to me, sitting at the very next table was Natalie Merchant. Jakob Dylan waved her over and she did a few numbers with the band. Regrettably, Sin-é is closing its doors soon.
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2007/01/nyc_venues_sine.html
Regards
*!*
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