3 ms·

What's killing newspapers is the same thing that killed the slide rule

5 points by pg 18y ago

gruseom 18y ago
I keep waiting for one of these distressed, failing newspapers to realize that it has nothing to lose and get a little crazy and create something brand new and brilliant for readers and advertisers. I keep being disappointed. A UK friend of mine who knows a lot of media people mentioned that the Guardian have been putting money into experiments with this purpose in mind. Nothing much has come of it, though if any newspaper is going to pull this off, it could well be them. Part of the problem here is the lack of overlap between the geek and journalism communities. (Adrian Holovaty is a notable exception.) My friend and I were toying with the idea of having a conference to bring hackers and journalists together, a few days organized around playing with ideas and making things.
- brandnewlow 18y ago
  There are more than a few conferences happening like this. Check Poynter.org for listings of upcoming events. Also, there are quite a few solid hackers working at the big papers. I think sometimes that the money situation is a big deterrent for hackers. A reporter at a mid-sized paper is working his/her tail off and making maybe $40,000/year. That person's editor is making all the decisions and more or less running the show on the editorial side and MIGHT be making $60,000. How many really talented hackers would work for less than $60,000.year? I wonder how big of a deterrent that is.
  - gruseom 18y ago
    If the newspapers were the sort of organizations who would pick up on a breakthrough idea that came from a lowly programmer employee, they probably wouldn't be on death's door in the first place. What we're talking about is much more likely to come from informal cross-pollination between communities. I looked at the website you linked to but didn't see anything like this.
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
MaysonL 18y ago
http://forum4editors.com/2008/10/where-did-norwegian-success-of-vg-come-from/ http://forum4editors.com/2008/10/where-did-norwegian-success... From the article: VG started online in 1995. In 2007 - the print circulation went down 80.000, profit increased 365 million Norwegian Krowns.

5 points by pg 18y ago

I keep waiting for one of these distressed, failing newspapers to realize that it has nothing to lose and get a little crazy and create something brand new and brilliant for readers and advertisers. I keep being disappointed. A UK friend of mine who knows a lot of media people mentioned that the Guardian have been putting money into experiments with this purpose in mind. Nothing much has come of it, though if any newspaper is going to pull this off, it could well be them. Part of the problem here is the lack of overlap between the geek and journalism communities. (Adrian Holovaty is a notable exception.) My friend and I were toying with the idea of having a conference to bring hackers and journalists together, a few days organized around playing with ideas and making things.

brandnewlow 18y ago
There are more than a few conferences happening like this. Check Poynter.org for listings of upcoming events. Also, there are quite a few solid hackers working at the big papers. I think sometimes that the money situation is a big deterrent for hackers. A reporter at a mid-sized paper is working his/her tail off and making maybe $40,000/year. That person's editor is making all the decisions and more or less running the show on the editorial side and MIGHT be making $60,000. How many really talented hackers would work for less than $60,000.year? I wonder how big of a deterrent that is.
- gruseom 18y ago
  If the newspapers were the sort of organizations who would pick up on a breakthrough idea that came from a lowly programmer employee, they probably wouldn't be on death's door in the first place. What we're talking about is much more likely to come from informal cross-pollination between communities. I looked at the website you linked to but didn't see anything like this.

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]

MaysonL 18y ago

http://forum4editors.com/2008/10/where-did-norwegian-success-of-vg-come-from/ http://forum4editors.com/2008/10/where-did-norwegian-success... From the article: VG started online in 1995. In 2007 - the print circulation went down 80.000, profit increased 365 million Norwegian Krowns.