Fact: Information transmits and transpires much more rapidly and freely today than any point in history (as we know). Think about technology and the human experience. And the so-called “battles” between grassroots movements and big business in journalism.
Here’s a math equation to represent the flow of information in digital culture:
This is about as close as I get to making an infograph.
Colloquially: Citizens divided by Journalism, minus the press equals…
What’s the answer?
At 11:59 a.m. this morning Mark Potts tweeted: “WashPost 2nd-day reax story on Times-Picayune is by…the Times-Pic! Wapo.st/KDBmxD Do other companies get to cover themselves in WP?” Thanks Mark! Afterward, I browsed Mark’s typepad, recoveringjournalist.com, and I recommend a visit.
Onward! The Times-Picayune is a sad story. WaPo reports (If you want to call it that):
New Orleans will be the biggest city in the country without a daily newspaper. The reaction to this wrenching change in New Orleanians’ way of life was a combination of shock, incredulity, anger and sadness, expressed in telephone calls, e-mails, tweets and Facebook (savethepicayune) and at savethepicayune.com, a Web site that civic activist Anne Milling bought Thursday morning.
First, I knew Washington Post had a sense of humor but I think it is funny WaPo links to another article on their site via savethepicayune.com. For me, the link provided doesn’t match the expected destination the text suggests. (Isn’t it about saving the Picayune?)
More importantly—the original reason why I’m sharing this: I’m all for preserving traditions, but I like seeing old dogs turning to digital for help.
It’s a quiet recognition that digital is where our attention is now. So why not embrace the digital model? The smart papers are embracing digital and moving forward. It’s a rare feat for an organization to be a concrete success in modern culture, because culture is mobile and fluid and changing. The Times Picayune doesn’t need to stop the presses, but in the digital age we’re trending away from the static. If you do it well enough, you can still produce both print and digital copies. I’m sorry you can’t read a physical copy of the newspaper with your chicory coffee, I am. But future you could read the newspaper online with your chicory coffee too.
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