New Media Journalism In The Industry

It is often stated that the Web has democratized journalism.  The more I think about it, the more I think: no it hasn’t.  Sure, the Web provides a ubiquitous platform to deliver content.  In that sense it has democratized journalism.  Though to a larger degree, the Web has just created more noise.  The argument that journalists are now competing with 28 million bloggers is blind.  I am a bit sick of hearing about the woes of the prehistoric newspaper industry.  Of the 37 blogs that I follow, 31 are published by professional news organizations.  The other six are published by by freelance journalists and marketers.  Every one of them is monetizing itself.  So, when I hear the argument that the Internet has democratized journalism, I think: wrong, it has just added more noise.

Journalism is an incredibly important profession.  The newspaper industry needs to wise up.  There is a great article in the June 2009 issue of Wired Magazine on monetization methods for publishers.  Below are two videos from a panel discussion held to address how film industry journalism is coping with new media.

“We need to stop thinking about the future of publishing and think instead about the future of reading.” – Clive Thompson, Wired Magazine

[Update: Newspaper Association of America quietly said the total revs were down 28.3 percent in Q1, with Alan D. Mutter noticing that sales dropped by more than $2.6 billion from the year before.  Meanwhile, as print ad sales slid by 29.7 percent to $5.9 billion, even online sales had their worst quarter yet, falling 13.4 percent to $696.3 million - detailed figures below. - paidContent.org]