New York State of Mind
I’ve been in New York City this week. I’ll be returning home tomorrow. I came prepared to blog my experiences, but I’ve been far too busy enjoying myself to do much more than make quick comments on Facebook. (Reminder to Rhetorica readers: Please add me to your friends list.)
I met Jay Rosen for happy hour yesterday. We had a long, rambling conversation that I’m sure came to many excellent conclusions about how to fix the problems of journalism. Unfortunately, we didn’t record anything 
One thing I think we’re clear on: This exciting moment in the history of journalism has no clear end game. Random observations and assertions:
1. The internet has taught people to expect to talk back to media and to expect to produce media. There is no turning back this reality.
2. What’s the business model for online journalism and/or citizen journalism? Sorry, that’s the wrong question. A better question: What is, or should be, the source(s) of journalistic credibility (no matter who is producing it) as the craft evolves?
3. The standard model of reporting may always have a place in the larger practice of journalism, but new models are emerging that make use of partnerships between…between what? Professionals and amateurs? That’s not quite right. You can get a glimpse of a potential reportorial future at Talking Points Memo.
4. Considering #3, will journalism return to (something like) its 19th century partisan roots? Almost surely–but not simply partisan in the political sense. The larger narrative of industrial journalism is dead, i.e. we produce a common product for a general audience, thus creating a shared sense of events with which to run a nation. Such news organizations may still have a place in the new paradigm, but increasingly common will be collaboratively-produced news products that spring from a wide range of narratives (not simply simplistic partisan divisions).
Tags: journalism, rhetoric, politics
