Just a stepping stone…
This made me laugh: “So The New York Times is now a training ground for Google and Yahoo.”
Doug McGill considers the future of journalism in which those two names appear prominently. I laughed because McGill so matter-of-factly describes the results of a revolution that began the day a new technology as born. We can’t take it back. But what we can do is learn to use it properly. One thing that has to mean: For journalism to continue to fulfill its ethical purpose of giving citizens the information they need to make civic life work (see page 12), we must discover how to transfer the concept of “newspaper journalism” to the internet.
For what that means, I suggest reading Davis Merritt’s book Knightfall. Rhetorica readers may recall that I was pretty hard on this book in my review. I was hard on the style and structure of it, but this quote from Merritt outlines something far more important than my criticisms:
Given the inexorability and pace of technology, we may not need newspapers in our media mix at some point in the future–perhaps sooner than later. But we will need newspaper journalism, because democracy can thrive without newspapers, but it cannot thrive without the sort of journalism that newspapers uniquely provide.
Buy it. Read it. Then take what you learn into cyberspace.
So the question McGill asks: Will Sergei Brin, Larry Page, Eric Schmidt, Terry Semel, Daniel Rosensweig, Jerry Yang, and David Filo step up and be the next generation that nurtures and encourages newspaper journalism, which by definition must operate for the public good? Will they avoid doing the things the corporate owners have done to harm the ethical purpose of journalism?
On a personal/professional note: I’ll be traveling to Minnesota later this week to meet with McGill. We’re putting together a presentation proposal for colloquium on the topic “Who is a Journalist?” I’m thinking we may need to podcast some of this.
This is a really interesting question which I’ve pondered for some time. Who is a journalist? Anyone who writes. Who is a reporter? I suppose anyone with something to report. Being that everyone has a story, the answer has to be everyone.
The question is really about ethics, professionalism, sponsorship and integrity.
I really believe Matt Drudge started a revolution by shaking up the powers that are.
I’ve written about this topic. Of course, nowhere near the eloquence others such as yourself approach the topic.
I’m forced to rely on video, pictures maps and sloppy text.
I create media therefore I am a journalist. Aren’t I?