Greenfield reinforces ‘free newspapers bad’ theme
Jeff Greenfield
CBS Sunday Morning was a celebration of its 30 years on the air, with features that looked back at life in 1979. It included a segment with media critic Jeff Greenfield, who whirled through a look at how the media has changed. He effectively described how the digital revolution has converged our information and entertainment into a handheld box.
What stuck in my craw was this line, delivered with an image of the Los Angeles Times on an iPhone: “You don’t want to buy a newspaper? Read it for free online — one reason why newspapers as we know them may not be around much longer.”
My wife turned and said that’s probably true. Ugh. My own wife. A week earlier, I had this debate with colleagues in own newspaper. I’m tired of people blaming free content. It’s not one reason why newspapers are in the fix they’re in. It’s not the 10th reason. It’s not in the top 100.
What did a newspaper cost in 1979? Well, I found an article that said the Los Angeles Times increased its newsstand price to 25 cents that year.
If you don’t think that we were (and still are) effectively giving away newspaper content for free, then I guess we can’t have a conversation about this.
Interesting stuff I saw online, Jan. 6 to Jan. 8
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Jan. 6 through Jan. 8:
- Corporate Blogging 101: What To Do With Comments – Blog – Standing Partnership – "Once clients get past all the discussion on this topic (and it is sometimes a long, drawn-out discussion) and decide, as we hope all clients will, to allow comments to be published, then clients want to know, 'How come there are no comments on our blog posts?'"
- Model Sues Google Over Snarky Blogger Remarks – Section 230, anyone? "The defamation suit, filed in Manhattan, seeks a court order compelling Google and its Blogger service to identify the anonymous blogger."
- Top Marketing Trends for 2009: Execs ‘Sick’ of Web 2.0 – A little scary: "Twice as many marketers are 'sick' of hearing about Web 2.0 and related buzzwords such as 'blogs' and 'social networking' compared with last year’s survey. However, marketers still admit they don’t know enough about it. This was evident in results from a November 2008 MENG social media study showing 67% of executive marketers consider themselves beginners when it comes to using social media for marketing purposes."
- How the newspaper industry tried to invent the Web but failed – Slate Magazine – "Newspapers deserve bragging rights for having homesteaded the Web long before most government agencies and major corporations knew what a URL was. …One would expect to find plenty in the way of innovations and spinoffs. But … newspapers sought to invent the Web in their own image by repurposing the copy, values, and temperament found in their ink-and-paper editions."
Taking a 2nd look at coarse reader comments
Since my newspaper’s web site launched reader comments in early August, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many cogent, articulate remarks show up on the stories. I have also been surprised at the vitriol and coarseness that seems to fly from people’s fingers.
Perhaps I was naive. But an incident yesterday has changed my way of thinking about how to deal with story comments.
On our site, most of the coarseness shows up on stories about crime or cop-and-court-type stories (and, this season, about the St. Louis Rams). Yesterday, we had a story about a 14-year-old boy who took his mother’s Ford Focus joyriding with five other teens in the wee hours of the morning. A chase, a wreck, two young boys died. Read more
Interesting stuff I saw online, Dec. 15 to Jan. 2
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Dec. 15 through Jan. 2:
- BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » Identity and anonymity – "Anonymity thereby provides a way for a writer who may be personally unpopular to ensure that readers will not prejudge her message simply because they do not like its proponent.” (Justice John Paul) Stevens concluded “Under our Constitution, anonymous pamphleteering is not a pernicious, fraudulent practice, but an honorable tradition of advocacy and of dissent. Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. “
- Stir it up – News Mixer – Experiment in online commenting – Most news Web sites either don't allow people to participate in conversations, or offer just the simplest option: a comment box. Most people aren't very happy with the quality of the conversation that results.
- Four Online Community News Sites to Expand Coverage – Knight Foundation – The St. Louis Beacon is among the recipients. “As the news industry cuts costs by reducing staff — including local reporters — citizens are receiving less of the news they need to lead informed lives and hold their governments accountable,” said Gary Kebbel, Knight Foundation’s journalism program director.
- Using Tweetbeep you can set-up keyword alerts for Twitter – Journalism.co.uk – "Alerts can be refined by geography, hashtags, user and the tone of the tweet (e.g. whether it's a question or not)."
In a series: Do we still need editors today?
I’ve been involved in an e-mail exchange with Jeff Jarvis over the issue of the utility of editors in this day and age. I’ll post more about this before the week’s out, but I’m working on a column on that question for The American Editor, ASNE’s magazine (here’s my last column for them, by the way. Their web site is way behind, sadly).
Jeff asked me about my thoughts on his post about “newsroom economics,” in which he posits a 30 percent reduction in staff and a redeploying of resources (and fewer editors). I give him props for noting that it’s an academic exercise that has plenty of room for improvement (although he didn’t actually use those words…).
Here’s what I like about what he wrote:
- He cut national and world news coverage. Bravo. For the love of God, it’s a commodity now, isn’t it?
- He increased local beat reporting.
- He increased resources to investigative reporting. I suggest that what he didn’t say was this: Everyone has to have a role in “investigative” reporting. That’s why we have beat reporters! I suspect his 1.5 people would be folks who can facilitate and aide with that process as projects come around.
Here’s where I have some questions:
- I’d definitely put some resources into developing online databases. Those can be useful tools to beat reporters and investigations — as well as fascinating online content in its own right. (One of his commenters already said this.)
- I also concur with the idea that he’d want someone with some mad web skilz. Maybe that’s someone in the “database” group.
- I wouldn’t make a distinction between “beat” reporters and “breaking news” reporters. If he wants someone dedicated to handling breaking news (for online, I assume), then create an old-style “rewrite desk.” We have two reporters at the Post-Dispatch who work staggered shifts on the “online news desk.”
They can write stories as they break, but they also take dictation from reporters in the field, give a quick once-over to stuff that other reporters e-mail, etc. My only fear is that creating a distinction between beat reporters and breaking news reporters somehow absolves beat reporters of dealing with breaking news.
More later. But would happily hear feedback on the idea of whether the levels of editing we have in newspaper newsrooms is excessive — and, if so, who is doing a good job of redeploying staff?
Kurt's Tweets- Why is this not a national story? Maybe I missed it. Appalling. Disabled woman was tortured and held as a sex slave http://ow.ly/2CiAq
- Bravo. RT @pwthornton: "Banning unsigned online comments undermines the media’s role as a forum for debate.” http://bit.ly/bmZsOn
- I would like to just take the two steps forward and skip the one step back. How about that? Would that be OK?
- Still seeking talented journalists to run #Patch sites in two south St. Louis County communities. Know anyone? http://ow.ly/2Axnv
- Waiting for a listings collector to give her more #Patch marketing cards. The work never stops.