The Future of News

Ed Driscoll held an interesting interview with ABC News’ Silicon Insider columnist Michael S. Malone, one of the few in the mainstream media who openly questions whether or not newspapers will survive. And yet, even he takes as an assumption that in this newspaper job-layoff environment it is the best and most seasoned journalists who newspapers must retain. Presumably, they are the newspapers’ best talent, those most capable of leading their papers to survival and success online.

But the fact is, there is very little evidence that those with the skills of newspaper journalists are succeeding in the new online news world. The list of A-list bloggers is almost devoid of traditional who-what-where-when-why journalists, but instead is populated mostly by activists, lawyers, academics, geeks, creative writers, subject experts, and engaging twenty-somethings. Hitwise News and Media reports usually only show one newspaper, the NY Times, among the top 15 web sites, which is typically dominated by cable channels and wire service-dependent Yahoo! and Google. And, Scott Karp and others (me included) have begun to question whether journalists will actually be able to find users who are both generating quality user-generated content and who are anxious to team-up with them. Determining the types of news outlets that will emerge as leaders is a matter of determining who, what, where, when, and why. If print journalists really do have superior skills for such an assignment, now might be a good time to use them.