Documenting the Demise of Newspapers
June 2, 2009
The write up carries the name “Harvard.” Bow down. It is also branded Nieman. Another genuflection, please. And, to top it off, there is a reference to the Washington Post. I had to read this essay by Dan Froomkin, whose name is not a household word in the goose pond. You can find “Why “Playing It Safe” Is Killing American Newspapers” here. For me, the most interesting comment in the write up was this passage:
If we were to start an online newspaper from scratch today, we’d recognize that toneless, small-bore news stories are not the way to build a large audience — not even with “interactive” bells and whistles cobbled on top. One option might be to imitate cable TV, and engage in a furious volume of he-said/she-said reporting, voyeurism, contrarianism, gossip, triviality and gotcha journalism. But that would come at the cost of our souls. The right way to reinvent ourselves online would be to do precisely what journalists were put on this green earth to do: Seek the truth, hold the powerful accountable, expose the B.S., explain how things really work, introduce people to each other, and tell compelling stories. And we should do all those things passionately and courageously — not hiding who we are, but rather engaging in a very public expression of our journalistic values.
A couple of thoughts:
- Aggregation methods are the newspapers for the Web set
- Big publishing companies have experimented their hearts out for decades. Anyone remember the original Wall Street Journal Online service with BRS search? Didn’t work then, and the system doesn’t work now. The business model is the little crippler I think.
- Check out Google Wave. That’s a publishing platform in my opinion.
In short, good essay. Hose off the tumbrels.
Stephen Arnold, June 1, 2009
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