Every now and then the issue of new media and new journalism hits these ‘pages’.
I’ve just read the text of Alan Rusbridger’s Cudlipp Lecture (25th January), ‘Does Journalism Exist?” (Hugh Cudlipp was the famous and pioneering editor of the Daily Mirror during its heyday).
This is a fascinating piece — illustrating with some interesting video graphics — which looks at the challenges faced by the print media today.
There’s been one change so big and obvious in the last decade that we may not have noticed it: the new media have disappeared. They are just media now: the means through which our world must be experienced.
The piece looks at the various business models that re being developed at the moment and talks about some of the modelling that has been done by the Guardian, which suggests that analysts here cannot see how to make paywall’s work!
Very interesting stuff; well worth the read.
Absolutely fascinating stuff – thanks for that Andy
Thanks for that Andy. I like his positive outlook.
I see this as the problem though:
Now, of course, lots of journalists find this hard to take. We are supposed to be the ones in the know, or with special access or insights. “Social media is interesting,” say the digital sceptics, “but it may be transient – and it has got nothing to do with what we do. Our brands are about authority.”
But this position – that journalists are uniquely knowledgeable and insightful – is a hard one to sustain to anyone who looks at the blogosphere…
Andy, this is an extremely interesting piece. Many thanks.
I’ve worked for the majority of my life as a design resource, and currently the work splits 70/30 in favour of print media. Some of this is – understandably – beacuse I’m a hard-core typographer. And whilst I delude myself into thinking that I’m au courant, I suspect that some of my customers hire me for an ironic retro feel.
What isn’t retro, however, is our need for objective and honest reportage, unpaltable as it may be. Publications such as El Pais, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Le Monde and the Berliner Zeitung may all be considered “Papers of Record”. And all use diverse channels to market.
The published material is gathered by professional journalists. A professional is paid to deliver on time, on budget and to the brief. In this case the brief is for objectivity. Certainly an enthusiastic amateur, working without constraints, may produce valuable content – and there are many currently publishing material on-line.
The difficulty that we have as consumers lies is that we expect on-line content of record to be both free at the point of delivery whilst retaining integrity. This, for me, is the heart of Alan Rusbridger’s address.
As a soi-disant anarcho-capitalist I am countering the revisionist lackeys of the . . . (trails off into yet another tiresome rant . . .)
Oh yes. Saw Nordwand last night. A mighty film covering the 1938 attempt on the Eiger. Get the DVD here, worth every penny …