Michael Rosenblum, some questions:
In your blog post “This Is Why It’s All Over…,” you write, “The web is about everyone participating with everyone all the time… The web changes the way things work. And you have to either conform to what the web does or you die.”
I completely agree that when it comes to the web — eBay, craigslist, dating sites, facebook, etc. — are made better and basically live on the continuous participation of the public. However, are you saying that if television and newspapers don’t start acting like the web then they will fail? That seems to be what you are saying. I enjoy the internet and all it offers, I don’t watch television so I should not comment about it, but I don’t think newspapers ought to start acting like the web. Their purpose is to bring the public the news and I think it can stop there. Some people may want to comment and voice their opinion and that’s fine, they can do it online. Why should newspapers change? Maybe I’m missing something.
I really like the idea you posed to the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia. I think the larger the net we throw out gathering up ideas for how to keep journalism alive, respectable, and actionable, the better off we will be.
I am a business major and believe if journalism students wish to do well in this area they really need to understand how the industry works and have a good sense of business. However, would you suggest that the same people who are going out to report and cover stories should be the same ones dealing with the business side of the company? Although it would cut costs, I think there needs to be a clear differentiation between the reporters and the money-handlers. Both the reporters and business people, need to understand each side of the coin but I don’t think the same people should be working both jobs. Do you?
I understand that journalism needs to recognize itself as a business or else it will not survive. However, you’re not at all worried that there will be some backfiring, unethical activity, lack of integrity without that wall between the two?
November 6, 2009 at 10:23 pm
No, I am not worried in the least. I AM worried if journalists embrace some kind of ignorance of their own business as a virtue. It isnt. I teach a lot of classes, but I also run my own business. I don’t want some amorphous MBA controlling my books. Would you? I think not. As far as newspapers and the web, there is no God given commandment that says there must be newspapers. We invented them. Now watch them vanish. The function of gathering and disseminating news however will continue, but only if the journos get their shit together and create a model that is web friendly, all the way web friendly, Like eBay or Wikipedia.