OJ 1 Week 1 Reading Review

Newspaper biz model is 200+ years old

• Costs: staff, printing, delivery

• Revenue: ads, classifieds, subscriptions, newsstands

Broadcast news biz model is nearly 100 years old

• Costs: staff, equipment, and broadcasting

• Revenue: ads

The Internet blows up both of these models.

Examples?

Newspapers have been in decline for a while…and it accelerated in last decade.

Big media compared to General Motors – reach wide audience, used to provide stable jobs, but

not the best at innovation.

In early stages of web, traditional news organizations responded

with “shoveling” and trying to sell advertising in the same way.

It didn’t work.

News readership and viewership is actually increasing, but

advertising on the web doesn’t generate as much $ as print or

broadcast.

The web is a different beast – a fundamental shift in the way we

gather, use, and distribute information.

Walter Lippmann vs. John Dewey

Two academics who had a big argument in the 1920s –long before the Internet.

Walter Lippmann

Journalism is fundamental to democracy – but the connection between info and citizens is broken.

Walter Lippmann

Journalism is good at easy stuff - major events, sports scores, or who died - but bad at covering complex social, policy, and government issues.

Walter Lippmann

Journalism causes “derangement, misunderstanding, and even misrepresentation.”

Walter Lippmann

Average America is clueless – “doesn’t know what is happening, why it is happening, what ought to happen.”

Walter Lippmann

Solution is to professionalize journalism – only the elite, well trained can do it.

John Dewey

Agreed with much of what Lippmann said, called it an “effective indictment of democracy.”

John Dewey

But he thought that democracy was less about “information” and more about “conversation.”

John Dewey

Democracy involves the ability to discuss, deliberate, and debate. People need places to do that.

John Dewey

The solution is more democratic education, workplaces, and newspapers to host those “conversations.”

Walter Lippmann

News as:

• Information

• Product

• Top down

John Dewey

News as:

• Conversation

• A process

• Shared enterprise

Walter Lippmann vs. John Dewey

Who cares?

Walter Lippmann

Journalism turned out to be more like Lippmann's view. Those with influence and power decide the “news.”

John Dewey

But Internet is more like Dewey’s view. Now everyone can participate and decide what is “news.”

What Does This Mean for Young Journalists?

The “web killed journalism” narrative is not accurate.

Platforms may change, but journalism remains.

What Does This Mean for Young Journalists?

What if journalism in the Internet age is more about “conversation” than “information”?

How does that change what we do?

What Does This Mean for Young Journalists?

What if journalism is a “process” not a “product”?

How does that change what we do?

What Does This Mean for Young Journalists?

• Innovative

• Entrepreneurial

• Participatory

• Hosting conversations

• Variety of job paths

Where Do We Go From Here?

• Wider range of skills

• Pro vs. amateur

• “We are all web workers now”

• New mindset…what is the value of a journalist?