Epic! 2015 The end of the newspaper

Gonzo_Reporter

This is nothing new its been on the web for ages now but i dont think ive seen a disscusion about it.
Watch this first:

http://epic.makingithappen.co.uk/

also see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_2015

This documentary for tells of the fall of the newspapers and the rise of on line news

Tells us what you think.
As a journalist i find this very disturbing but i must admit a bit liberating at the same time. Many things it predicted have already come true.
Blogging has become a way of life but it by the end of the short documentary, i believe, i took an evil turn. It discribes an automated Big Brother rather than just 'personalising' news.

Judt

There are two sides to this, and I'm a web journalist so you know. On the one hand, who cares how we get our media disseminated so long as it's the same stuff we read in the newspapers, plus immediacy of the web, right?

Well, in an ideal world that's what we get. In reality the pitfalls of the web for news journalism among the professional organisations, forgetting about bloggers and whatnot for now, is that proprietors tend to see the web as a cheaper option - that is, the quality of the work is not always the same as what you might get in a newspaper of record. I think Jon Stewart put it nicely when taking the mickey at CNN's going in the direction of so many others by soliciting user generated content: "CNN is attempting to outsource its most arduous and boring job. Namely, reporting."

I think that quality of web content has to come way up or else you are not replacing the method of dissemination of news, you are diluting its quality as well.

As for bloggers and so on, it's simply an extension of the idea of tailored newspapers for different world outlooks - as one set of people buy the Times and another the Independent, or the Sun, Herald etc etc, bloggers mainly cater to audiences who want to see the world reported according to their world view. Some bloggers do very good work, more do shoddy work that is acceptable to their audiences and most write utter tat.

Well, I suppose we'll see what happens but among the professional existing organisations, they need to get their web act together. What happens with blogs and so forth is up to the net readers.

Bunnyhopper

There was a discussion on Boards late last year about the Irish Times - ireland.com model of subscription web access alongside a print edition.

(The discussion is locked now. The OP didn't include a link to an article s/he quoted, and for some reason the mods couldn't track down the article: took me about 5 seconds on Google to find it here, under the "5pm update" heading.)

monument

I have the same view as Greenslade on this - web overtaking paper is going to happen, but I'm not putting a time on it.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/greenslade/

Bunnyhopper wrote:

(The discussion is locked now. The OP didn't include a link to an article s/he quoted, and for some reason the mods couldn't track down the article: took me about 5 seconds on Google to find it here, under the "5pm update" heading.)

Back then I searched for it too, at the time Google hadn't indexed the Guardian blog post. Although I had found it since when manually searching the OG blog for something.

Jackie laughlin

There is no history of a medium wiping out an earlier medium.

monument

Jackie laughlin wrote:

There is no history of a medium wiping out an earlier medium.

Still writing on cave walls?

Jackie laughlin

Had a look at any walls around Dublin recently?

TheNog

I hope it happens sooner than later so we can save the trees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

flogen

The media in general is changing, no doubt about that... I'm not sure if anyone can tell where it's going, though, and I certainly see this "documentary" as a very OTT representation of one of the millions of possibilities.

I don't think print media will die out at any stage, but I do see it becoming something different to what it is now.

In the wake of 24-hour news channels, newspapers have slowly moved towards becoming the source of comment and analysis. Online news, like 24-hour news, will provide the breaking facts, print will put it all into context and give the subject's history to the reader.
I think one piece of the puzzle that's missing is investigative, and I hope that will become common again in the coming years, as again it's something that newspapers could give time and energy to while the other media are trying to get the latest update on something we already know about.

Throughout history, whenever a new medium makes its way onto the scene the existing one(s) just reconfigure themselves somewhat. They refocus, find what they can offer best that others can't and then work from there.

Jackie laughlin

Flogen,
It was always thus. What has changed, however, is the centrality of media to daily living, to experience itself.