If the only thing that newspapers are trying to do is survive as profit making businesses (and who can blame them) then maybe the Hail Mary to "digital first" is the way to go, but in the end journalism and its role as the watchdog is over.
The new model is only aimed at driving people to stop by and view the website, so news is generated that will bring the eyes there. That's understandable, but when "citizen journalists" and bloggers replace good old shoe leather government reporting the game is really over as far as journalism is concerned.
I'm a dinosaur, and I recognize I'm a dinosaur, but when the day-to-day (and expensive) business of watching over government is gone I think the Republic is in peril. Too dramatic, maybe, but the future doesn't look good.
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http://joymayer.com/2011/05/04/inside-the-engagement-experiments-at-the-register-citizen/
The story above explains EXACTLY why most everybody with any experience was let go from the old Booth papers. Except, of course, for the gray-haired, well0-over 40-something good ol' boys still in charge who are not about to lose their jobs to some punk-a$$ 20-something digital nerd. But they will hire all sorts of 20-something digital nerds to replace those old fashioned experienced folks. Personally I like the idea, I think the only way to change the direction of the news business is to start with people who don't know the old business. HOWEVER I do not believe that leaving those old fart gray-haired good ol boys in place made any sense. At least you recognize a dinosaur when you see one.
If that's the new journalism, I'm glad I'm not a part of it. It's a little too touchy-feely for me, like a newsroom designed by a refugee from the Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s with an IT degree.
Give me a scruffy old reporter, even one with a cigarette hanging out of his/her mouth.
I prefer my journalism with a balled fist waiting to take on the greedy, corrupt mayor anyday.
But hey, if you want to run a coffee house for friendly Internet savvy newsies, knock yourself out.
Jim
If that's the new journalism, I'm glad I'm not a part of it. It's a little too touchy-feely for me, like a newsroom designed by a refugee from the Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s with an IT degree.
Give me a scruffy old reporter, even one with a cigarette hanging out of his/her mouth.
I prefer my journalism with a balled fist waiting to take on the greedy, corrupt mayor anyday.
But hey, if you want to run a coffee house for friendly Internet savvy newsies, knock yourself out.
Jim
If that's the new journalism, I'm glad I'm not a part of it. It's a little too touchy-feely for me, like a newsroom designed by a refugee from the Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s with an IT degree.
Give me a scruffy old reporter, even one with a cigarette hanging out of his/her mouth.
I prefer my journalism with a balled fist waiting to take on the greedy, corrupt mayor anyday.
But hey, if you want to run a coffee house for friendly Internet savvy newsies, knock yourself out.
Jim
Jim, I hold this truth to be self-evident. Democratic government cannot exist without a free press.
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