An interesting discussion on the future of newspapers (and news) involving one of my favorite bloggers, Jeff Jarvis. Worth the time if you have 26 minutes to spare.
I agree that newspapers probably won’t be around (much) in five years, but I think news will be thriving; format is largely irrelevant.
The only reason newspapers got as huge as they did was because they were essentially a monopoly: they controlled the presses so they controlled the information. The Internet has changed that. And I believe it’s a good thing.
The one thing newspapers (as an institution) were (are) good for is preserving journalism. There’s a difference between newspapers and journalism. One well-deserved criticism of blogging and other online activities is that often the quality suffers (or is flat-out inaccurate) because it isn’t held up against journalistic standards.
It will be interesting to watch the transition institutional news dissolves into news as an entrepreneurial venture and community effort.
What do you think the future of news will be?
Tagged: Business