Asking a Question to Which the Answer Is Obvious
April 24, 2009
The Guardian took time out from Google whacking to ask a question that I found embarrassing. The Guardian’s article title is the question; namely, “Why Did Google Create News Timeline and Not Newspapers?” I interpreted the query as ambiguous. The Guardian gives Google a pat on its predator’s scales for its ability to innovate. The question of why seems to mean, “Why can’t the dead tree crowd do Googley things?” The Guardian said:
What’s holding back news organisations from creating these types of features on their own? Mathew said that “antiquated and inflexible content-management systems” are partly to blame, but he also said that newsroom culture also is part of the problem. News organisations will have to become more innovative in creating new features that showcase their content and build services that they can sell to end their over-reliance on advertising as a source of revenue. What do you think it will take for news organisations to become more innovative.
I think the Guardian knows that time has passed by the newspaper industry. The reality now dawning on those in the news business is scary. Without the mental programming to react effectively under attack, the newspaper industry falls back on a combination of grudging admiration for Google and direct assaults on the company because it is adapting to an evolving environment. Think Darwin. Think extinction. The answer to the3 Guardian’s question is in my opinion, “Newspapers don’t know what game changing actions to take.” The result? Marginalization and likely disappearance in a stream of zeros and ones.
Stephen Arnold, April 24, 2009
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2 Responses to “Asking a Question to Which the Answer Is Obvious”
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Some of the newspapers are taking the initiative and developing new ways of presenting their content: the New York Times’ open API: http://open.blogs.nytimes.com/ and the Guardian itself http://www.guardian.co.uk/open-platform for example. There are also new ways to search newspaper content, such as http://www.clipsearch.co.uk/ (Disclaimer: we helped develop this).
I don’t see dead tree outfit dying off completely, I think the smart ones will survive. A recent TV documentary in the UK talked of how the Guardian in particular is getting a larger international audience via its website. However I don’t dispute that the next decade will be a bloodbath.
I wrote an article here: http://www.nmk.co.uk/articles/1093 which may be of interest.
Charlie Hull,
I agree. I take a clear position in the Web log to invite reaction. My mom used to have a plate with writing on it proudly anchored to the wall. A person from Sumeria would have recognized the clay tablet medium. Right now, the dead tree crowd seems to be struggling, making headlines, creating instant bloggers via staff rationalization, and bellowing that life is not fair. Why write about something less exciting such as modifying a script in the Vivisimo Velocity system when I can point out the thrashings of the dead tree crowd. Fun. Easy. Very significant.
Stephen Arnold, Apil 24, 2009