There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?
Recent Articles
- Justice for Indigenous Peoples is Long Overdueby Ryan McGreal, published June 30, 2021 in Commentary
(0 comments)
- Third-Party Election Advertising Ban About Silencing Workersby Chantal Mancini, published June 29, 2021 in Politics
(0 comments)
- Did Doug Ford Test the 'Great Barrington Declaration' on Ontarians?by Ryan McGreal, published June 29, 2021 in Special Report: COVID-19
(1 comment)
- An Update on Raise the Hammerby Ryan McGreal, published June 28, 2021 in Site Notes
(0 comments)
- Nestlé Selling North American Water Bottling to an Private Equity Firmby Doreen Nicoll, published February 23, 2021 in Healing Gaia
(0 comments)
- Jolley Old Sam Lawrenceby Sean Burak, published February 19, 2021 in Special Report: Cycling
(0 comments)
- Right-Wing Extremism is a Driving Force in Modern Conservatismby Ryan McGreal, published February 18, 2021 in Special Report: Extremism
(0 comments)
- Municipalities Need to Unite against Ford's Firehose of Land Use Changesby Michelle Silverton, published February 16, 2021 in Special Report
(0 comments)
- Challenging Doug Ford's Pandemic Narrativeby Ryan McGreal, published January 25, 2021 in Special Report: COVID-19
(1 comment)
- The Year 2020 Has Been a Wakeup Callby Michael Nabert, published December 31, 2020 in Special Report: COVID-19
(0 comments)
- The COVID-19 Marshmallow Experimentby Ryan McGreal, published December 22, 2020 in Special Report: COVID-19
(0 comments)
- All I Want for Christmas, 2020by Kevin Somers, published December 21, 2020 in Entertainment and Sports
(1 comment)
- Hamilton Shelters Remarkably COVID-19 Free Thanks to Innovative Testing Programby Jason Allen, published December 21, 2020 in Special Report: COVID-19
(0 comments)
- Province Rams Through Glass Factory in Stratfordby Doreen Nicoll, published December 21, 2020 in Healing Gaia
(0 comments)
- We Can Prevent Traffic Deaths if We Make Safety a Real Priorityby Ryan McGreal, published December 08, 2020 in Special Report: Walkable Streets
(5 comments)
- These Aren't 'Accidents', These Are Resultsby Tom Flood, published December 04, 2020 in Special Report: Walkable Streets
(1 comment)
- Conservation Conundrumby Paul Weinberg, published December 04, 2020 in Special Report
(0 comments)
- Defund Police Protest Threatens Fragile Ruling Classby Cameron Kroetsch, published December 03, 2020 in Special Report: Anti-Racism
(2 comments)
- Measuring the Potential of Biogas to Reduce GHG Emissionsby John Loukidelis and Thomas Cassidy, published November 23, 2020 in Special Report: Climate Change
(0 comments)
- Ontario Squanders Early Pandemic Sacrificeby Ryan McGreal, published November 18, 2020 in Special Report: COVID-19
(0 comments)
Article Archives
Blog Archives
Site Tools
Feeds
By Lurkalicious (anonymous) | Posted January 20, 2010 at 11:15:25
I was there last night too. Great event - local media talks always draw out passionate people!
I know it's become a cliche but when Bill Kelly was doing his bravado thing about how all this change has been going on since Gutenberg, all I could think was that he and the other old media professionals are like the scribes who were put out of a job after Gutenberg invented the printing press.
Look at the parallels. David Estok said last night more people read the Spec than ever, but they can't figure out how to make money from them. After the printing press, more people were *reading* than ever but suddenly the guys who get paid to write out books can't get paid for what they do.
Ryan sort of gets at this in his essay above but what's really happening is that journalism - publishing - is being amateurized by the web. You needed professionals when there was one or two printing presses per city (or one or two TV stations), because the bandwidth was so narrow you needed people to do QA before publication.
Now that anyone can publish anything and everyone can see it, we don't need professional gatekeepers of quality any more.
Here's the crucial bit: The gatekeepers weren't there to ensure that readers only saw good stuff, they were there to ensure money wasn't wasted publishing crap no one would want to read. Mistakes were too expensive! That's why the professionals earned the big bucks.
Nowadays, if someone publishes crap no one wants to read, it doesn't matter because it didn't cost anything to publish it.
See, readers aren't stupid. We know quality when we see it. Sorry Bill, but we don't need gatekeepers like you to protect us from lousy journalism. We can figure that out for ourselves very quickly.
The good stuff will rise to the top and the bad stuff will drop to the bottom.
Now are you starting to understand why the MSM are worried? Their professional skills are about as useful to the internet generation as the professional skills of scribes were to the printing press generation.
Permalink | Context