Monday, July 26, 2010

Interesting thoughts on a 'post-print' world

Meanwhile, BBC offers an essay on what it calls news in a "post-print" world. The gist of the essay by Andrew Marr is that new media offers two different revolutionary changes. The first is that he observes that he is spending a lot purchasing media online (ebook, etc.) so maybe, he writes, Murdock isn't all wrong with his pay wall. The second is that Internet journalism will fall into Internet aggregators but under them "we will have large numbers of specialist news sites," which will offer details on areas of interest.

As if to prove his point about the vigor of the Internet, BBC offers "a selection of your comments" afterward, including ones that both agree and dispute his thesis, but does offer lively takes on Marr's musings. One, from a man in Texas, is worth repeating in whole, it implies we might be more discriminating in news than many think:

"Used to believe the better news will be on the web, but not anymore. I will take known journalists, with good reputations, over the spread of trash opinionators any day. Here in the US, consolidation of news agencies has been a disaster for the public. I get my best news from the BBC, then look beyond for supporting articles. OK, I use the web, but if they don't have printed copy, or television shows, I don't read, nor waste my time." -- Wallace Parnel, Texas.

From O.J. to Sherrod, Halperin traces the spiral

Mark Halperin in Time traces the "spiral" in new media from O.J. Simpson to Shirley Sherrod. Speaking of its inception with the Simpson coverage, he writes: "By dominating the nation's attention through 1995 and beyond, the tale established a template in which the media is triggered and overwhelmed by any storyline that has basic elements of culture, controversy and polemic."

He marks the "three pillars of new media" as cable TV news, the Internet and talk radio. Of them, Halperin writes: "What all three of these mediums crave is content that is driven by contretemps, gripping video, factual disputes, logistics, and compelling dramatic personae." It's the kind of essay that makes reading any form of media worthwhile.