“In real revolutions things get worse before they get better. .. One of the bad things I think is going to happen is, I think civic corruption is just going to rise for towns and regions of under about half a million people. Which is to say, I think the old model of the newspaper is going to break faster than the hyperlocal civic reporting can come in its place.”
I commented to my online journalism discussion group that I hated to disagree with such a New Age Internet/Journalism Guru like Clay Shirky but, Citizen Journalists and Bloggers would indeed continue to shine a spotlight on civic government. After all, most City or Town Council's meet only once a week.
My Professor said we're both right. That in little old Western Massachusetts, Citizen Journalists could help to fill in the void, but almost everywhere else Mr. Shirky's scary prediction is on the mark.
And I could not agree more with my friends at the Springfield Republican: Nobody does investigative journalism better than newspapers.
7 comments:
Not if you buy ink by the barrel.
Right you are Larry. Newspapers can and should fill a key investigative role, keeping government honest.
Such as yesterday's headline:
Convicted felon Fred Allen Swan named top administrator of Robert Hughes Academy Charter School in Springfield
An interesting article that highlights the ways charter schools can be corrupted. For example, the school pays an exorbidant rent to landlords that are on the school's governing board.
Indeed. And as you probably know, Charter Schools are near and dear to my heart.
This Springfield Nitwit, errr, I mean "felon", should take a hike. And their Charter revoked--for the good of the "industry" (And yes, I believe Education is an industry.)
Right you are. A close reading of the newspaper article makes it clear that this is a den of thieves using the charter school as a front for feathering their own nests. There should be an FBI and IRS investigation into this one.
Let's get real on the Springfield Charter School mess.
What race are these people?
What is the "D" word and the "R" word that everyone is truly terrified of?
Do I really need to say any more?
AND NOTE, I HAVEN'T CITED ANY FACTS HERE YET, PEOPLE ARE COMING TO THEIR OWN CONCLUSIONS.....
I think the railroad analogy is appropriate here. Newspapers, like railroads, are in a world where more rapid and personalized transportation has made them obsolete.
So what do the profitable railroads do now -- high volume or high weight specific niche markets. Commuter rail, Northeast Corridor rail, etc.
Newspapers, if smart, will adopt a similar market and become more like weekly summaries that provide an in depth organization of stuff that already has been on the web. So if I want a summary of what ClimateGate is all about, my newspaper is for that.
Not to tell me what today's weather will be as the information is obsolete before I even get it.
And hence the model for newspapers will be the old UM Minuteman - a summary and review of stuff already known.
You obviously know nothing about railroads. They move more goods and more people than trucks and planes.
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