Comments on: The Newspaper is Dead http://socialscapegoat.com/the-newspaper-is-dead/ Taking back the bridge one troll at a time Tue, 03 May 2011 03:22:08 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Boy on a bike http://socialscapegoat.com/the-newspaper-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-51 Boy on a bike Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:14:00 +0000 http://socialscapegoat.com/?p=103#comment-51 Someone else is following this train of thought:<br/><br/>http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200901/new-york-times Someone else is following this train of thought:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200901/new-york-times

]]> By: An Irritating Truth http://socialscapegoat.com/the-newspaper-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-50 An Irritating Truth Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:54:00 +0000 http://socialscapegoat.com/?p=103#comment-50 Oh dear: Hyperlocal Websites will Boom in 2009 as Community Newspapers Fold <br/><br/>http://www.inquisitr.com/14219/hyperlocal-websites-will-boom-in-2009-as-community-newspapers-fold/ Oh dear: Hyperlocal Websites will Boom in 2009 as Community Newspapers Fold

http://www.inquisitr.com/14219/hyperlocal-websites-will-boom-in-2009-as-community-newspapers-fold/

]]> By: An Irritating Truth http://socialscapegoat.com/the-newspaper-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-49 An Irritating Truth Sun, 04 Jan 2009 13:58:00 +0000 http://socialscapegoat.com/?p=103#comment-49 I hope your predictions about big media conglomerates are right. Unfortunately I don't think this is the case. <br/><br/>Rupert Murdoch is currently trying to buy the Dow Jones and the New York Times. <br/><br/>NewsCorp has announced job cuts across the board affecting the Courier, The Australian and the Daily Telegraph, which thankfully does show some downgrading but in an attempt to increase revenue and global reach. <br/><br/>Thankfully Murdoch is a self proclaimed media "dinosaur": "Like many of you in this room, I’m a digital immigrant. I wasn’t weaned on the web, nor coddled on a computer. Instead, I grew up in a highly centralized world where news and information were tightly controlled by a few editors, who deemed to tell us what we could and should know."<br/><br/>Hopefully Murdoch and all his cronies will fail miserably at digitising and "revolutionising" their papers whose only resort will be to sell it all off to a younger person with sound business mind and practice adept at keeping up to date with new technology. That's the only way they're going to be able to compete with new arising forms of news consumption. Besides, where else do they think they're going to get their retirement funds from? Certainly not from newspapers. Don't even get me started on the black hole that is superannuation.<br/><br/>Wouldn't it be exciting if local papers could actually rise to the task of competing with big news businesses? It would be the rebirth of independent journalism and quality reporting. I hope your predictions about big media conglomerates are right. Unfortunately I don’t think this is the case.

Rupert Murdoch is currently trying to buy the Dow Jones and the New York Times.

NewsCorp has announced job cuts across the board affecting the Courier, The Australian and the Daily Telegraph, which thankfully does show some downgrading but in an attempt to increase revenue and global reach.

Thankfully Murdoch is a self proclaimed media “dinosaur”: “Like many of you in this room, I’m a digital immigrant. I wasn’t weaned on the web, nor coddled on a computer. Instead, I grew up in a highly centralized world where news and information were tightly controlled by a few editors, who deemed to tell us what we could and should know.”

Hopefully Murdoch and all his cronies will fail miserably at digitising and “revolutionising” their papers whose only resort will be to sell it all off to a younger person with sound business mind and practice adept at keeping up to date with new technology. That’s the only way they’re going to be able to compete with new arising forms of news consumption. Besides, where else do they think they’re going to get their retirement funds from? Certainly not from newspapers. Don’t even get me started on the black hole that is superannuation.

Wouldn’t it be exciting if local papers could actually rise to the task of competing with big news businesses? It would be the rebirth of independent journalism and quality reporting.

]]> By: Boy on a bike http://socialscapegoat.com/the-newspaper-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-48 Boy on a bike Sun, 04 Jan 2009 12:53:00 +0000 http://socialscapegoat.com/?p=103#comment-48 Editors and writers seem to be afflicted with the idea that people are easily bored, so the name of the game is to produce short, pithy articles and attention grabbing headlines. Online readers are supposedly even more flighty, and won't read anything longer than the length of a single screen.<br/><br/>If that's true, why are people happy to read long blog posts (like this one), and to trawl through miles and miles of comments, reading each and every one of them? <br/><br/>Newspapers have gone "information lite" in an attempt to hang onto this flighty audience, but it's backfired. If you ask me, the reason people skim read so much content is that it has no "content" - it is fluff masquerading as news. So much information is stripped from the articles, they are no longer of interest to anyone. <br/><br/>As for the SMH, their stupid pop up ads are a more terrible afflication than a plague of boils. Do they want people to visit their site, or do they want them to swear at it every time they drop in to read something?<br/><br/>Funnily enough, I am now finding that local newspapers can make for the best reading (they actually print interesting stories!) and from what I can tell, most are healthy. Perhaps what we are seeing is the death of the big, expensive to run, self important "national" papers with an "ego", like the SMH, Age etc. Editors and writers seem to be afflicted with the idea that people are easily bored, so the name of the game is to produce short, pithy articles and attention grabbing headlines. Online readers are supposedly even more flighty, and won’t read anything longer than the length of a single screen.

If that’s true, why are people happy to read long blog posts (like this one), and to trawl through miles and miles of comments, reading each and every one of them?

Newspapers have gone “information lite” in an attempt to hang onto this flighty audience, but it’s backfired. If you ask me, the reason people skim read so much content is that it has no “content” – it is fluff masquerading as news. So much information is stripped from the articles, they are no longer of interest to anyone.

As for the SMH, their stupid pop up ads are a more terrible afflication than a plague of boils. Do they want people to visit their site, or do they want them to swear at it every time they drop in to read something?

Funnily enough, I am now finding that local newspapers can make for the best reading (they actually print interesting stories!) and from what I can tell, most are healthy. Perhaps what we are seeing is the death of the big, expensive to run, self important “national” papers with an “ego”, like the SMH, Age etc.

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