3 ms·

I think that journalism ( in the sense of newspapers) is largely doomed. For the general purpose "where did a bomb go off?" news, one site per country is enough

by yk 14y ago

I think that journalism ( in the sense of newspapers) is largely doomed. For the general purpose "where did a bomb go off?" news, one site per country is enough, so the biggest site will simply win ( and can sustain itself on an ad model). For more in depth reporting, I do not see a way to beat hobbyist or semi-professional blogs, since there is simply no way how a journalist can beat a specialist. Especially if the specialist is working for free. [1] Above of this, I think there is a market for long form journalism, which can be sold by ebooks. ( And probably these ebook sales require a quality blog as advertisement.) So I think that a lot of journalists will need a new job, since their old one was generated by the trouble of moving paper around. And I think the future of journalism will be very few news portals, who produce baseline chatter, plus a lot of much more specialized sites in addition to a few aggregators. Unfortunately this is a construction which is easily swamped by PR bullshit. So an editorial board, which publishes curated links, may actually be worth something. [1] This does not mean that an average blog is a good source, it means that the best blog will always beat an average newspaper article. A random tech journalist can simply not beat Bruce Schneier in anything crypto related.

wklauss 14y ago
Donation will only get you so far and sooner or later the novelty of the idea will wear off.Ebooks seems to be working a little better now, but its still a very niche product. The thing with blogs/specialist is that they don't cover a big scope and they are not consistent. The job of a journalist is not to write a masterpiece on a subject once in a blue moon, it'ss to write information pieces everyday, on a consistent schedule and focusing of the issues that could have an impact on the readers life. Even if the reader has not heard of them before or care deeply about them. And in order to do that, they usually ask -or should ask- specialists.
wildgift 14y ago
I disagree about the journalist vs. specialist thing. The journalist should be a specialist at bringing together multiple stories or perspectives together into a compelling article. The journalist is a specialist at reading and comprehending documents and info, and a specialist at talking to people to tease out the story.

by yk 14y ago

wklauss 14y ago

Donation will only get you so far and sooner or later the novelty of the idea will wear off.Ebooks seems to be working a little better now, but its still a very niche product. The thing with blogs/specialist is that they don't cover a big scope and they are not consistent. The job of a journalist is not to write a masterpiece on a subject once in a blue moon, it'ss to write information pieces everyday, on a consistent schedule and focusing of the issues that could have an impact on the readers life. Even if the reader has not heard of them before or care deeply about them. And in order to do that, they usually ask -or should ask- specialists.

wildgift 14y ago

I disagree about the journalist vs. specialist thing. The journalist should be a specialist at bringing together multiple stories or perspectives together into a compelling article. The journalist is a specialist at reading and comprehending documents and info, and a specialist at talking to people to tease out the story.