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The obvious problem here is that there is an oversupply of news. In an age of electronic worldwide distribution, do you need 938 outlets reprinting the exact s
by ramanujan 17y ago
The obvious problem here is that there is an oversupply of news.
In an age of electronic worldwide distribution, do you need 938 outlets reprinting the exact same story? No. But that's what you see on Google News.
Oversupply means that weeding has to happen. Those outlets that survive will be those that provide unique information (either local news, infotainment, or big budget national/international news).
The newspaper as an institution is no more sacred than the Broadway play (which was destroyed by movies) or the family farm (which was automated and scaled up).
The only reason many people believe it is somehow different is that a significant fraction of what they read is written by newspaper writers (as opposed to, say, playwrights or farmers).
- timwiseman 17y agoYou have a good analogy, but the you take it a little too far. Broadway plays have hardly died. From what I hear, they are doing relatively well, and I have watched a number of them as they left broadway and toured into my city at the time. They have fallen somewhat in prominence though. Similarly, family farms have lost their former prominence in society, but they are far from dead. My grandparents ran one until my grandfather retired due to health problems (recently deceased), and even then they leased their land to another family farm nearby. There will be a winnowing in journalism, but this does not mean destruction for any of news, plays, or family farms.
- ramanujan 17y agoWell, by "destruction" what I mean is that 1) In 1850 55% of Americans listed their occupation as farmer or farm laborer. Now it's about 1%. Source here: http://flare.prefuse.org/apps/job_voyager http://flare.prefuse.org/apps/job_voyager 2) Regarding plays (Broadway and elsewhere), they've died in the sense that they represent a much smaller fraction of the entertainment dollar relative to movies.
- timwiseman 17y agoPercentage wise those have both died and you make valid points, but that is hardly death in a true sense. Family farms are still alive and well in many places in America, as are plays, they are just smaller percentages than in the past.
- sireat 17y agoThe general consensus is that a successful small family farm is a very rare and dying breed. See: http://www.methlandbook.com/ http://www.methlandbook.com/ Would be interesting to see counterexamples, that is some small family farms that are doing good.