Decius wrote:
] While the Guardian is certainly not to be known as a bastion
] of objectivity, this screed on the state of American
] journalism feels honest and sensible. The implications segway
] directly into some of the commentary I've offered here about
] the relationship between weblogs and the press.

I liked this article, it hit upon a number of things that I feel are on target. As one journalism professor I had liked to repeat over and over, the existance of the objective press is a myth. But thats another discussion, more fitting to attach to some op-ed peice about post-modernism, objective truth, or some shit like that.

There were a number of points in this article that could be expanded upon.. Personally, I feel that the rise of JOAs and the subsequent fall in the number of competing newspapers have lead to most of these problems. Less voices mean less discussion. There is (almost) a complete shortage of independent voice within the newspaper industry. No incentive to take risks. All the newspapers have their carved out distribution area, in which little to no real competition exists, hence no incentive to do anything other then the status quo. Gannet has no incentive to take risks, they just provide the news summary they got off the wire, give it a local spin, and push it out. The complete lack of diversity within the newspaper industry will be its own downfall. Its not its own beast anymore, its a child of a bigger parent.

Or maybe its just because newspapers used to be the place in society where ideas were pubicly debated and discussed, and thats not the case anymore.. Television and the Internet form the ecosystems in which that debate now takes place. Hence, the medium does not serve the same function it did a few decades ago. Rendered irrelevant by the evolution of technology, communication, and the passage of time.. Retooled to serve as a summary sheet for reading on the bus.

Its not going to bring me to tears, I'd rather save the trees.

All that being said, there still are a number of newspapers that matter.. But I feel that number will continue to shrink.. And in the end its not the newspapers that matter, but rather the people writing the articles that matter. They will be ported to other mediums where their output can be better targeted, discussed, etc..

RE: MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | Bushwhacked