News 2.0: Can journalism survive the Internet
[Oct 2009]
The MSS is with the publishers and out for review. All things being equal (which they’re so obviously not) I should know soon what corrections and edits I need to make. It comes in at about 108,000 words and the problem is, of course, that now the book is in production there’s so much going on.
I’ve attempted to keep myself up-to-date by blogging on the issues. Hopefully I will get a chance to make some last minute changes to examples and such, while ensuring that the core arguments and themes remain viable.
Journalism in the Age of YouTube
I am currently working on a book about journalism today – how blogging, social networking and citizen journalism are changing the way journalism is done, marketed and interpreted.
I have set up a search-engine-wiki (swicki) at Eurekster. You can visit there and see what my searches are throwing up and you can add commentary too.
I’m soliciting comments, advice and tips. All will be gratefully acknowledged.
I’m hoping that my visit to London will furnish the time to get some chapters completed. The journey is certainly helping. I’ve added some links to posts on this page. They relate to topics I’m writing about. Feel free to comment, or send suggestions. Anything that gets used will be acknowledged.
EM
Posts on topic
Journalism and blogging: leave it to the machines?
October 23, 2009
In science and science fiction there’s a moment when it all goes to custard for the human race. It’s the singularity – often defined as the time when machines begin to out think humans.
We’re not there yet and I’m comfortable with predictions that it might happen 200 years after my demise. But you can never really trust futurist predictions.
Barbarians at the gates – Ultimo is smouldering?
Another very good analysis of Mark Scott’s Melbourne Uni speech which I covered yesterday. This from Trevor Cook at Crikey.com
In other areas too we may come to see the world of the ‘empowered audience’ as deficient. Comment and opinion are everywhere on media sites these days, but there has been no similar expansion in facts, ideas and analysis, Scott’s much-heralded partnerships with the audience, like the barbarians attacking Rome, may be more suited to producing noise and colour than anything more enduring.
Media empires, the fall of Rome and the digital sublime
But now, anyone can instantly publish on the web. And as long as they have content people want to see and read they will reach millions. The extent of the revolution could not have been seen – the extent of the transformation.
Mark Scott, The Fall of Rome: Media after Empire, 14 October 2009
A nice thought isn’t it? Anyone can now reach an audience of millions if they have content that people want. It’s pleasant to imagine this world; a place free of the media barons, where simple souls like us can wield the once unassailable power of the moguls.
Too bad it’s just a digital myth at this point.
World Media Summit – the future of news is in safe hands…not
OK, so can you tell me what’s wrong with this picture?
Chinese President Hu Jintao (7th L) poses for a group photo with co-chairpersons of the World Media Summit prior to the summit’s opening ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, on Oct. 9, 2009. The two-day summit, hosted by Xinhua News Agency, opened here Friday morning. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)
Talk about a nightmare featuring Men In Black. This comes pretty close.
No Future! A pessimistic and money-grubbing view of journalism
The Philistine phase of the digital age is almost over. The aggregators and the plagiarists will soon have to pay a price for the co-opting of our content. But if we do not take advantage of the current movement toward paid-for content, it will be the content creators, the people in this hall, who will pay the ultimate price and the content kleptomaniacs will triumph.
Rupert Murdoch, Beijing, October 2009
The writing is on the wall…but actually the content creators were not in Beijing with Rupert Murdoch; they’re scattered across the globe and Murdoch wants their content, he just doesn’t want to pay for it.
We don’t trust the news media – so where’s the news in that?
UMR Research has today [7 October] released the results of a survey of New Zealanders that show, on the whole, that we don’t trust the news media.
Epic 2015 – what’s beyond the horizon? Posted 12 September. An interview with Matt Thompson, creator of Epic 2014 and Epic 2015 about the future of electronic media.
Journalism of the future – a Missouri perspective Posted 13 September. An overview of some discussions at the Missouri School of Journalism 100th anniversary celebrations.
May 13, 2008 at 11:36 am
Hi Marty,
OK I want to talk to you about video Hi-jacking
and also “CropCircle Theory”.
This is the latest thing that is hardcore underground but will soon become a way of jacking the traffic and pointing it towards your content.
Think of this ….. a video on a topic is getting 1 000 000 views / day you can take this traffic and then hi-jack that to then insert your own view.
“CropCircle Theory” (A name I have come up with)
It’s about tactics that allow you to appear over night on any topic and cause a media buzz using the internet ….. planting CropCircles in strategic locations to then direct the traffic to a central location (MotherShip)
I’ve been successfully using both methods in marketing and the system I have developed over the last year works on any topic on any niche. Now these same techniques will work on a journalistic front to pick a topic and shock and awe an audience.
You had a very small glimpse of this theory at the famous bottle of scotch night, however I’m am far more articulate at explaining it now.
Billy
May 13, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Billy, I look forward to more discussions when you get to Auckland, scotch optional, but tasty. Single malt, your choice.
cheers
M
January 16, 2009 at 10:28 am
Wow, I read this post last night. And then today I got sent this about how amazing Twitter can be … http://ad.vu/2hrc
I think this falls under accidental journalism.
April 17, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Hey, good news, I’m at 53000 words on the manuscript – only another 20K to go.
My new deadline’s early July and I’m confident I’ll make it.
The title’s changed too:
News 2.0: Can journalism survive the Internet?
I’m keen on any tips or ideas that support this title, so send in links etc, all will be credited.
EM
July 14, 2009 at 4:41 am
Hi,
Your book sounds like just what I need for my research – when’s the publication date? Could you let me know? I’m a journalism lecturer/journalist just starting my PhD research and blogging at http://predocsblog.blogspot.com/
August 30, 2009 at 5:50 pm
So, how’s that book coming? There have been several instances in a one particular city in the U.S. of citizen journalists getting into a sumo wrestling match with a judge over the video taping in “his” court room.
Check out the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mDgaPJH4D4
The man being arrested was filming in the public lobby of Keene District Court in New Hampshire, in the United States. He was filming in the lobby because David Ridley, another youtube journalist, was being arraigned for attempting to capture video inside the court room (openly defying the the freedom of the press as is guaranteed by the first amendment of the U.S. Constiution). The court’s rules state at that time suppressed recording in the court room.
Good luck oon the book. Let me know when it comes out, please.
August 31, 2009 at 9:47 am
Thanks for asking, I’m two weeks away from submitting the MS. That’s why EM has been quiet for the past month.
Back to normal posting when the book’s off my desk – make that dining room table.