Arrogant journalists
Here’s a great, inadvertent example of why newspapers are going out of business. Howell Raines, former executive editor of the New York Times, publishes a profile in a recent issue of Portfolio on god-like media blogger Jim Romenesko. He concludes, rather presumptively, about a third of the way into the piece:
Newspaper publishers assumed that even if the printing press disappeared, the internet would still have an insatiable need for their basic product - verified facts, hierarchically arranged by importance. But Romenesko’s rapid growth showed that even newsrooms are part of the emerging market for an unprocessed sprawl of information, delivered immediately and with as few filters as possible between the fingertips of one laptop user and the eyeballs of another. In short, it’s not technology per se that’s killing newspapers; it’s plummeting demand for quality information.
The arrogance of this paragraph is toe-curling, this idea that the only place one can get “quality information” is from newspapers, and you poor, stupid pleebs on the Interwebs just don’t even realize you need an editor to wipe your ass and tell you what to read. People like Raines are seriously out of touch.
D. Greene wrote:
Pleebs = plebes
- your friendly neighborhood editor
Posted on 03-Jul-08 at 3:50 pm | Permalink
daniel silliman wrote:
You read many blogs these days? I mean the ones that think they’re going to replace the newspapers? I mean I like conspiracy, ideology, bullshittery, and unfact-checked, made up, libel and slander as much as the next guy, but that’s not what we wanted when we wanted newspapers.
Posted on 03-Jul-08 at 4:01 pm | Permalink
pjk wrote:
Greene: how dare you.
Silliman: No, I don’t read many blogs, but if that’s Raines’ point, you’ll have to agree that Romenesko is a terrible example.
Posted on 03-Jul-08 at 5:43 pm | Permalink
dave wrote:
I fucking detest Portfolio. What a bunch of worthless rich quasi-spinsters and tailored sports jacket shitdicks.
Posted on 05-Jul-08 at 9:28 pm | Permalink
pjk wrote:
dave: lol. I am not renewing my subscription.
Posted on 06-Jul-08 at 6:01 am | Permalink
John wrote:
Raines is wrong. Most of the news and information people get online is from newspaper and magazine websites. What’s killing newspapers is that they can’t make enough ad revenue online to compensate for the bleeding prints.
Posted on 17-Jul-08 at 9:47 pm | Permalink