Comments on: Old Vs. New Media Practices http://newscoma.com/2008/08/05/old-vs-new-media-practices/ Got A Two-Pack Habit And A Motel Tan Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:41:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: lovable liberal http://newscoma.com/2008/08/05/old-vs-new-media-practices/comment-page-1/#comment-19101 lovable liberal Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:24:41 +0000 http://newscoma.wordpress.com/?p=5026#comment-19101 Yet the web people at CNN seem to get it. They support links that point off their site (unlike the NYT and WaPo), and they've got Sphere actually working (unlike Time and Newsweek). As for me, I've cancelled the dead tree Boston Globe. Too tired of all the recycling. Print's not dead; it's just not on newsprint so much anymore. My crystal ball says: - a small number of national news sites (CNN, NYT, WaPo, LA Times - maybe, Fox, WSJ, a few more for a while) served by the modern equivalent of wire services, probably specialized by coverage area in some cases - a proliferation of local and regional sites that cross-promote the nationals (Boston Globe, AJC, Memphis CA, and then the smaller markets, too) - lots of semipro sites that make enough money to keep them going, some as avocation, some as vocation The competitive advantage of the big news sites will cease to be opinion and become reporting (in my dreams) and analysis, though it probably won't be high-quality in either. Opinion will be free. Why would anyone read Richard Cohen or David Broder? Or MoDo or Glenn Beck or O'Reilly or ...? The blogs are so much smarter. Cable TV will remain a wasteland of bullshit. At some point, CNN might even spin off CNN.com, which is really a newspaper. Yet the web people at CNN seem to get it. They support links that point off their site (unlike the NYT and WaPo), and they’ve got Sphere actually working (unlike Time and Newsweek).

As for me, I’ve cancelled the dead tree Boston Globe. Too tired of all the recycling.

Print’s not dead; it’s just not on newsprint so much anymore. My crystal ball says:
- a small number of national news sites (CNN, NYT, WaPo, LA Times – maybe, Fox, WSJ, a few more for a while) served by the modern equivalent of wire services, probably specialized by coverage area in some cases
- a proliferation of local and regional sites that cross-promote the nationals (Boston Globe, AJC, Memphis CA, and then the smaller markets, too)
- lots of semipro sites that make enough money to keep them going, some as avocation, some as vocation

The competitive advantage of the big news sites will cease to be opinion and become reporting (in my dreams) and analysis, though it probably won’t be high-quality in either. Opinion will be free. Why would anyone read Richard Cohen or David Broder? Or MoDo or Glenn Beck or O’Reilly or …? The blogs are so much smarter.

Cable TV will remain a wasteland of bullshit. At some point, CNN might even spin off CNN.com, which is really a newspaper.

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