The Future of Newspapers
Friday, September 26, 2008 |
Category: Newspapers |
I've just updated my article on the future of newspapers. It was painful. I felt like I was writing about the progress being made in treating AIDS in Africa or the current economic crisis in America. The news about the newspaper industry in North America has been so unremittingly depressing for so many months that it's extremely difficult to re-enter the topic with anything but a grimace.
Still, I managed to create a new section that I call "Bright Moments" (named after an old Rahsaan Roland Kirk song of that name -- try to find it: you'll be cheered up). I chose three topics to focus on: "Free Dailies," "Community Newspapers" and "The Global Newspaper Industry."
The free dailies are apparently beginning to suffer some of the setbacks of the broader newspaper industry, but the other two topics appear as true bright moments.
I was of course cheered to find something bright to mix into the gloom, but I cannot say that I'm in any way convinced that these bright moments are going to be self-sustaining, or to change the overall gloom that enshrouds this once-great medium.
The problems are so complex. What do you realistically think will be the outcome?
I'll be updating the magazines article shortly.
Enjoyed the blog post, especially the Rahsaan Roland Kirk part.
I remember sitting at the bar in the Colonial Tavern on Yonge Street (in Toronto) with a friend one night, waiting to hear Rahsaan come on. Just as I said to my friend, "he can play two saxophones at once", the man himself walked by and leaned over and yelled in my direction, "Three! I can play three saxes at once!"