Strategy and the Death of Newspapers

So, the spectacular fall of the Tribune Company is clearly more than the decline of one company – it is the most visible symbol of the tanking print media industry that is swept up in systemic changes that have destroyed business models and jobs nationwide.

For the activist PR person, it also signals a need for innovation.  It’s no longer enough to bang out press releases to the AP and hope for the best; even trying to ‘be the media’ is getting tired since everybody is going to be the media soon – for example, Indymedia centers no longer serve the same function when self publishing software means that anyone can be their own media outside of the framework provided by IMCs.

One of the first casualties will be the decline of ‘publicity’ as such – without big-bore media outlets running the news cycle, the sphere of public discourse will become more fragmented and less accessible.  Organizers and media people will need to think more in depth about their targets, whose support the targets need, and how to influence those supporters via the specific media channels.  I think one point of attack will be via industry conferences, publications and message boards (check Officer.com, a message board for cops for an example). In a way, attacking via these forums will be like a new office-takeover, targeted at a company and its peers/competitors as a way to put on economic pressure.

The Good Cop

I have no doubt in my mind that this NYT article on Rahm Emanuel would have been much different were it written about a Republican.  Seriously: for the past few years ‘industry ties’ has been a kind of buzzword for ‘corruption’ under the Bush administration, and I don’t see why that should change under Obama.  I don’t think that this provides evidence of a left media bias because Emanuel isn’t that left, which is really the point – the obsequious media coverage of the Obama campaign/administration, forecasting change and lauding the team of experts starts from some fairly shaky assumptions.   Mainly it rides a partisan/Manichean frame that associates the “last 8 years” with failure, and any ‘change’ with ‘hope.’  The other implicit assumption is that Obama-as-is is the only change we could ever really see, when in reality there could be many different Obama Administrations, depending on how much critical pressure the media and an organized opposition places on him.

McLuhan in the Digital Age

One of two posts of academic jargon:

Marshall McLuhan originally wrote Understanding Media in 1964, at the juncture of a new electronic media environment (primarily television) and an older print environment.  Now, with the rapid ascendency of digital technology as the dominant media of our age, his arguments should be re-examined for their application to digital media.  The effects of new digital media strengthen and extend many of Marshall McLuhan’s argumentative probes about the development of media, in particular his arguments about electronic communication, which become more applicable with the rise of digital media like the internet.

The Double Standards

all I’ve got on the Mumbai attack so far:

Two incidents about how this event is being framed.

First from the BBC: the day after the Mumbia ‘standoff’ finished, there was a riot in Nigeria that killed 200 people.  This is the counterpoint to all the vague moralizing about the loss of human life on the coverage of the Mumbai attack, because it has garnered only a tiny fraction of the Mumbai attack’s press.  The (false) report that the attackers targetted ‘westerners’ is one big reason why this became as big as it did: the attack was against the ‘west’ and the friends of the west – it had little to do with loss of life.

Second, from Andrew Sullivan: within a few hours, he made two posts about torture.  one was about US torture policy, which he refers to as the “Bush Cheney Torture Regime“. However, when discussing torture committed by the (presumed) Islamic terrorists in Mumbai… the big rhetoric comes out.  In this case, we’re dealing with “Barbarians“.  Another shameless and senseless pro-west bias that taints an effective analysis of what just went down in Mumbai.

‘Debate’ About Torture

I’m not particularly happy with the idea of Brennan as the head of the CIA – but then again, I’m not particularly OK with the CIA in the first place.  Anyways, there’s also a problem with the idiotic rhetoric of ‘opening a debate‘ about the use of torture.  I definiately don’t take issue with debates – I’m pleased with the defeat of a challenge to NYU’s Coke ban in a debate, to cite the most recent example – but I’m fairly sure that any ‘national debate’ about torture will look nothing like a productive discussion about torture, or state violence.  The terms of the debate will be left up entirely to people like Brennan – not only will he choose what people talk about, but also the forum in which they do it, and the terms in which it is described.  The cacaphony of a truely national debate will be reduced to the talking points of a hoarde of ‘national security experts’ and other apologists for the exercise of US military power.

Here’s the point: I don’t think debate is a problem, but in the narrow, imagistic environment that constitutes public discourse, the idea of a ‘debate’ all too often only serves as a fig-leaf to media campaigns meant to justify some pretty fucked up stuff, and I’m not buying it.

Obama, Newspapers and the Media of History

The world has changed. from phq200's flickr.

I love the rush to get newspapers today.  It’s like no one feels like it happened until they have something in their hands that proves it really occurred.  History seems to have disappeared from our lifetimes – even September 11th disappeared into a bureaucratic squabble and the discredited political movement led by George Bush.  The last time ‘something happened’ was the fall of the Soviet Union.  Until today, it seems.

Obama ran an ephemeral campaign, one of airy aspirations and digital connections.  I think there’s still a sense that it might all disappear, until we take pictures, record video, and grab mementos.  The newspaper is a classic trope in what we know is history – think Dewey Defeats Truman – and folks need to grab on to something to feel like history happened.  History happens in black and white.

I Hate Chris Matthews

so so much. from mickeleh's flickr

I had the unfortunate pleasure of watching MSNBC all night – both election parties I attended had it on (really loud).  These people were riding Obama/Howard Dean/David Axelrod all night, and it got really absurd.  Welcome our new leaders and bow before them! Here’s choice quotes from the night:

Chris Matthews: “The second battle of Gettysburg has gone the same way as the first” -  McCain = Confederacy?

“It would be hard to see McCain climbing over or boring through Ohio now”

“If you put the word hope before they American people, they’re willing to take it and do something with it”

From David Axelrod: “We didn’t want to accept the dreary math of red states and blue states”

“The thread has broken” – Joe Scarborogh

MSNBC only asked black people about what the election meant for the nation.

Keith Olberman had a terrific white guilt moment where he prattled on to the nation how much he loves Jackie Robinson, MLK and Jesse Jackson.

My favorite: There was a whole 5 minutes of Chris Matthews swinging on Howard Dean’s nuts, but it was too absurd to write down.  Chris: “Howard, how is it that you were so awesome?  Tell me just how beautiful you think you are?” Reply: “Well, Chris, very beautiful.  Gorgeous you might say.  Admire our black President, if you please.”

Bachmann and Blogs as Force Multiplier

I’m not always convinced of the inherently democratic function of digital communication, but I think that the case of Michelle Bachmann in MN demonstrates some of the contours of how the internet and blogging influences democracy.  Today the Congressperson fought back by saying that ‘the media’ (ie the blogs that latched on to her televised idiocy) don’t represent ‘the people’ – and she’s right.  The ‘blog-o-shere-a-rama’ doesn’t in fact represent people.

What it does represent are members of movements, who can work for or against a candidate/proposition and act as force multipliers for candidates, leveraging money, time and intellectual energy to support a cause.  Bachmann’s seat became contested because members of a national blogosphere caught on to her comments and made her a cause, pre-empting her media pushback by contextualizing her comments within a broader failing of the GOP message, as well as an old-school McCarthy red scare.  They bested her by forming the message ahead of time, and forced the media into covering it.   Even if they don’t represent her district in a representative democracy sense, they do have the power to control how members of her district view her – and that means something.

The Internet as Secondary Textuality

a paper for a class.  Published here for the sake of making my education feel like it matters.

” Internet communications technology represents the most highly developed process of what Walter Ong calls “Technologizing the Word” in his book Orality and Literacy. According to Ong, communication technologies break ‘the word’ from the context of the world in oral communication and give it an independent life in space and time via print and electronic media, a process that renders unique attitudes towards the word and the psychological concepts that surround it. Internet-based communication creates a new stage in the long process of technologizing the word, transcending ‘secondary orality’ by abstracting the word into a flexible visual space united by hyperlinks and criss-crossed by search technologies that give new life to words as independent entities.

Crime Reporting Still Growth Industry

It keeps coming, and it keeps coming. from bluegoa's flickr.

As the economy sours, expect to read more stories like this one on meth and cocaine in New York City.  Not only will increasingly time-strapped reporter types resort to pre-packaged stories like this, but police departments will be struggling to justify high spending on law enforcement as civic budgets tighten.  The solution?

Pump news about crime waves and developing drug epidemics to whip up some fear and indignation on the part of decent citizenry, and keep plowing money into police and prisons.  Reports on drug busts are simple stories that echo dramatic narratives people see dramatized on TV all the time, plus busts happen all the time, leading to the fear of a ‘crime wave’ – the neat connection to an economic downturn brought out in the Post article no doubt makes things worse as well.

Knowing When to Say When

This has got to stop. from nobihaya's flickr.

I’m getting really tired of the media-technology fetish.

I attend an elite university with excessive tuition and a very privileged, talented student body. The people I pal around with have a lot to lose from being arrested, going to jail or getting kicked out of school. I think this is why folks at NYU so often default to talking about media and public image when thinking about social change. Media studies, public relations are the totally abstract, disembodied struggles, they require no sacrifice, and little to no personal risk in the service of a cause.

It’s also the reason I see NYU students pouring so much of their time into thinking about how media determines the ways-of-the-world. I also think it’s why NYU has so many technology-fetishists. Seriously: I’m really tired of hearing about how technology will foster democracy or converge our cultures – Jeff Jarvis has some good ideas, but has gotten to the point of outright deifying Google.

Ultimately I don’t think anyone has given a comprehensive or effective description of why corporations, governments, etc. have to care about their public image as such. Thinking about creating real power means getting into the specifics of that power, which probably also includes getting in the way of things.

McCain Goes Meta

Images of images. from christhedunn's flickr photostream.

McCain’s last hope for the Presidency lies in keeping the meta-physics of his campaign in order. People have begun to see him as erratic based on how he led his campaign for the Presidency, and so he’s trying to get back on track by rationalizing how his decisions have been made. The last ditch efforts for covering up his negative attacks are trying to articulate a bizarre tit-for-tat process whereby Obama somehow incited McCain to talk about Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright. He’s also pursuing an argument about the need to keep government divided between Democrats and Republicans on the assumption that the House and the Senate will be majority Democrat come January.

We’ve reached a point in the media environment where the actual meaning of a campaign is in how it describes the actions it takes. McCain constantly talks about Obama’s decision to attack Joe the Plumber – not the facts of the attack itself; just as Obama talks about the negativity and cynicism of the McCain campaign on his stump. McCain lost debate 3 not because of what he said, but because his non-verbals showed that he was ‘out of control’ and unprepared for the debate. Obama has run a slick, well paced campaign that won him as many points as the actual things he said during it.

12 Ways to Become a Better Writer

List compiled for a class – most of this is advice I don’t follow, but I found the process of putting thoughts down immensely helpful in getting me back on track to writing more (and perhaps better). I encourage you to make a list like this one.

Thoughts assembled out of some personal experience, advice from people I trust, hearsay, and good books I’ve read.

1. Read a lot – People have been writing for a long time, and chances are that you aren’t the first person to think about what you want to write about.  Reading other authors sharpens your perspective on subjects you want to write about, but also keeps your writing fresh – hopefully by reading others, you keep tabs on overused clichés and overlaps in content or form.

2. Know your favorite authors and why they’re your favorite authors – I suspect that if you write, you’ve taken inspiration from some source that inspired you to write.  Go back to those writers and think about what spurred on your passion.  Keep track of why you like them – not just as stylistic source material, but to understand what makes readers want to keep reading.

3. Take notes – both on the books you see and the people you see.  Memory is in short supply, and the act of writing something down allows you to build on a passing thought by putting a bead on it and giving it extended thought.  This provides fodder for content and constructive reflection on ideas that strike you but may need substance to become viable foundations for larger pieces.

4. Outline obsessively – There should be no rush to finish off an article, and I think the final drafting stage should be the shortest step of what you do. Much of the final product should come cut and pasted from outlines and documents where the bulk of your thinking occurred.

5. Think about media – this means understanding the audience’s experience of reading in the format you select to write in.  Reading on the printed page directs thought in different ways than reading on the internet; your work should embody conventions that best suit the medium you – and the reader – have selected.

6. Don’t be afraid to change tack mid-work – your original inspiration isn’t a sacred calling that you must follow to the ends of thought.  If an opportunity presents itself to write a compelling piece on a subject you never intended to, it may be because your first idea wasn’t the real story, and you should shift gears.

7. Don’t look for bad guys and good guys – simple narratives are boring and clichéd caricature turns readers off.  In my experience, unambiguous good and evil almost never exists, and hammering human existence into simple narratives means your story will probably fail, in a myriad of ways.

8. Write every day, or as often as possible – keep the wheels greased linguistically.  You have to practice constructing ideas to find your best work and best ideas.  Treat daily writing as a process of sifting out the good ideas from the bad, and a sandbox for new techniques.  These shouldn’t be published necessarily, but having folks read daily writing might be helpful.

9. Don’t just be a writer – have a passion that allows you to put fervor and purpose in your writing.  I try to take the “80% of life is showing up” maxim to heart, in the sense that you only get an ear in on 20% of the interesting bits of life by spending all your time thinking about/through writing.  I’m an activist, and connections generated through my activist work has generated a huge number of valuable leads, numbers, and story lines that can distinguish a good article from a great one.

10. Take note of the environments where you work best, and create those environments – this is a point about work environments.  Think about pieces you were happiest with, and then think through the environments that let you produce your best work.  Seek out environments like those to write in the future.  I personally know I work best in semi-public, quiet spaces like libraries or study rooms, with people around but research resources at hand.

11. Never hold your best stuff. (Stolen from Clay Felker) If you have a scoop, a story, or a good idea, run with it.  Holding off working on or publishing a good story helps no one, least of all yourself.

12. Treat writing as something more (and less) than a calling. Understand and feed your passion, but know there is a utilitarian angle to what you’re doing.  Your passion and inspiration only take you so far – you must take into account the needs of your readers, and the needs of an industry that surrounds writing and publishing.  Understand the ends-means function of writing from the get go, and you’ll be more successful from the outset and  get over the feeling of soul-burnout in the long run.

Thoughts on McLuhan – Understanding Media

I’ll find this interesting, I don’t know how many other people will.  Here are my thoughts upon finishing Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media.

This was a strange and lucid book, and difficult to read; McLuhan’s apprehension (dislike?) for the medium of print shines through the text in its strange lucidity and obscurity.  I almost feel that McLuhan seems upset to be writing a book, and so he writes a book exactly how he wants to write it – in weird vignettes with a certain unhinged fervor.  Overall a valuable book for its opening of new theoretical avenues around an expansive notion of ‘media,’ but I found its individual conclusions about particular media forms generally off, but occasionally enlightening.

Yuppies are Out, Welcome to the Age of Yupres

Won't be so hard anymore. From Pak Gwei's Flickr photostream

Jess’s post over at NY Magazine and the recent spate of yuppie death threats in the East Village put me to pondering about the condition of urban life in New York. Specifically, the condition of yuppie-ness, and what it means to be a young New York-er these days.

It’s not looking good for the Young Urban Professional. The NY Times pointed out that the Wall Street yuppie variety is under particular stress these days, setting off cries of glee from a few places. It’s not like the other quintessential “New York” industries are doing so well for themselves either – the media industries started saying that ‘flat is the new up‘ (meaning they have no idea how to keep making money), and traditional news companies are so deep in shit it hurts. Jesus, even the real estate market has hit the brakes.

So, if the ‘yuppie’ enters decline, what takes its place as the keystone species of the urban ecosystem? What makes the new-New York economy go round?

Introducing: the “Yupre” – the Young Urban Pre-Professional.

What makes this the age of the Yupre? First, New York has become a college town. As I pointed out in a previous post, 600,000 college students call New York (temporary) home. Even more post-grad 20-somethings come here trying to make their way in the New York industries – fashion, media, finance, etc. Many of these new and temporary arrivals will never achieve full employment while in New York, taking a series of internships, volunteer positions and part time jobs to make ends meet before shuffling off to middle America, suburbia or Los Angeles. Despite this, they define the (cultural) economy of New York.

Economically – As a student at NYU pursuing a career in the ‘media industry,’ I’ve been subjected to a barrage of shitty employment offers. Here’s a sample:

“amNewYork is looking for journalism students for fall internships. Applicants will be required to write both news and feature stories, copy edit and do fact checking. This is an unpaid internship…”

“We are looking for interns to help us with the daily publishing duties associated with ForbesAutos.com. This includes writing and reporting, web production, article research, fact-checking, and proofreading. Ideally, applicants should have an interest in new media, and we are looking for someone with a fine eye for detail along with a solid foundation in writing. Since we are a car website, knowing the difference between a Porsche 911 GT2 and Porsche 911 GT3 is also a plus, but not required. This is an unpaid internship, and we’d like someone who can come in at” least two days a week for a few hours, or possibly the whole workday.”

“Men’s Vogue is looking for an editorial intern for the spring semester. The internship must count for credit, and interns would be asked to work 2 full days a week. Internship opportunities and responsibilities include: writing original content for our website; scouting theater, music, film, art, and book releases; researching potential story ideas for editors; and some administrative tasks.”

Job descriptions for internships read like the descriptions for real jobs; the only differences are the employees (students) and the pay (shit). Anyone taking these positions would be subject to the same demands placed on employees (producing original content, editorial work, etc), and their work would generate income in some form, yet often their only hope for advancement comes in the form of a rec letter or a resume bullet.

CAVEAT: I’ve taken some fuckin’ sweet internships, where my boss took a genuine interest in my education, and took the time to help me improve as a writer and journalist; I’ve also worked places in line with my political beliefs, where I essentially worked as a volunteer, but with the privileges of being an employee. In some cases, free labor makes sense, but in many more instances, employers will treat their interns as human resources in the most cynical sense, making extreme demands on their time and energy and then disposing with them.

Here’s the point: major industry in New York relies on free, temporary labor supplied by young people, primarily students, creating a new class of urban resident: the Young Urban Pre-Professional.

Culturally – Paradoxically, many Yupres live a relatively decent lifestyle – moving to New York is no cheap endeavor, and recent college grads sometimes have the backing of their parents. As for college students, few NYU students (at least) face eminent starvation if left unemployed (although some go without housing, and many many more take on massive debt).

The free time endowed by parental stipends and loose employment gives Yupres the space and energy to engage in the creative activity which (as Elizabeth Currid explains in The Warhol Economy), makes the New York economy go round. They’re the ones starting and discovering new bands, critiquing and making the art in New York’s galleries, and dreaming up new web ventures. Admittedly, they also homogenize and gentrify, filling NYU’s dorms in the East Village and clog Williamsburg with and eerie hoard of skinny hipster clones every weekend, but the creative zeitgeist remains.

Still, the average Yupre saga will most often end in some disappointment, either emotionally or financially. Middle America will never run out of kids with dreams of striking it big as writers, Wall Street-ers or artists, which means that New York will never run out of free or cheap labor from fresh faced 18-21 year olds willing to sell their soul for a break (or, as Jess put it “give blowjobs for bylines”). Forever at the service of their cultural and economic masters, the ever circulating Yupre class will define and shape New York for decades to come.

Movies and Mass Change – What if the Left Media Bias Was Real?

This movie is sweet.

Today I attended a screening of the above movie at the Brecht Forum, an event hosted by GoLeft.org, and also attended by the film’s co-writer Jeremy Pisker. GoLeft describes themselves as a group of “activists and pop-culture whores” that attempts to figure out how to make activist politics more palatable.

A necessary goal – I am taking up an oath to never once more chant “What do we want? [insert demand]!!! When do we want it? NOW!!” or “The People, united….” or other such chants at rallies or protest, on principle because of triteness and political impotency. The fundamental mediocrity of so much protesting almost hurts, and recycling halfhearted chanting makes that pain almost too much to bear. the Bulworth event sparked some interesting ideas -

What if the Left Media Bias Was True? – Any serious analysis of the news easily picks apart the claim of a left-leaning slant in reporting, but that doesn’t mean that activists can’t find useful tools in mass media. In the book Dream, Stephen Duncombe deconstructs a McDonalds commercial to discover arguments for shorter workdays, improved education systems and a clean environment – a ‘bias’ not evident in the ads funding or intent, but implicit in its appeal to the ‘good’ in people’s lives. The amenability of corporations to greenwashing and other forms of consumer activism (organics, Whole Foods, other such shit) demonstrates the underlying aesthetic of consumption in the fulfillment of human desire – it is this aesthetic of dreaming that progressive politics must attach itself to.

Make sure your people are enjoying themselves – A basic philosophy of new age corporate management is to treat your employees like volunteers. This means respecting them as human beings, and creating a work environment that is its own reward, rather than a mere means to an end. In my experience, too many left organizations don’t even treat their volunteers like volunteers. Folks show up to pay their moral debts, pontificate, or make very stern faces for news cameras. The desire to stop something usually incites this type of masochism. Making protests/actions/organizing interesting in and of themselves might improve the saliency of their appeals. Someone in the audience tonight put it thusly: “we must be beholden to the value of human interaction” a fancy way of saying “talk with people like its fun to talk to them, not because you necessarily want them to do something for you.” This idea might also lead to the result of making every action organizations pursue an end in themselves – producing awareness or sparking new activism, even if their explicit demands aren’t met.

Last, the role of mass media. The screenwriter Pisker said something interesting in the Q and A (which was remarkable all around – he was engaging and thorough with every question, and showed a real regard for everyone in the audience). He expressed concern about a proposed ending to the film, which would have Warren Beatty’s character abandon politics to become a community organizer, as “too preachy.” This caught my eye because commentators (on the right in particular) level the ‘preachy-ness’ complaint against most celebrities/Hollywood types that become politically active. The fact that Fox distributed Bulworth created no slight ambivalence for the screenwriter as well – in response to a question I asked, he said that ‘if I wanted to devote my life to political change, I wouldn’t be in this industry’ – a comment that suggests difficulties for anyone trying to create a mass mediated revolution. From the perspective of a viewer, I’m not sure I agree with his dismissal. I think mass media entertainment products can create change within limited boundaries, while providing lessons to organizers who want to create more radical change. Here’s the lesson I took: organizers should make entertaining a priority as high or higher than that of a carefully crafted message, so that the message becomes relevant, popular and accessible.

Photopost: Stupid Ads in New York

NYPD’s Recruiting Ad, on the 1 train

The above ad reads “MYNYPD is a 75% crime reduction in 15 years. That’s a job resume we can all be proud of.” Saw this on the subway heading out to Brooklyn last night. The NYPD attempt at new media relevance is sort of laughable, as if sticking a “MY-” in front of the name would suddenly convince people that the NYPD isn’t a vast, corrupt bureaucracy that regards its new recruits as something between shit and dirt. The ads plastered an entire side of the train – other images lauded new-recruit pay raises (to ‘still not very good’ pay); the others were un-memorable “build your resume!” type appeals.

The crime reduction figure is misleading, and arrogant. Of course they don’t tell you about the increase in the prison population occurring in the same period, and the assertion that crime reduction resulted from NYPD policy alone seems misleading as well.

In Prospect Park

I passed this last night walking near Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and it could be the least appealing ad I’ve ever seen.

First, the image: the girl looks like she’s been force-fed barbecue for days, and is losing her will to live. Looking into her oversized face on the street was somewhere between shocking and terrifying, and does nothing to encourage anyone to consider buying ‘BBQ’ in the ‘Prospect Park you didn’t know.’

Second, the text: “Don’t just make BBQ… Buy BBQ‘ Good thing this ad is here for those hungry Park Slopers looking for their next meaty treat. Now, I thought ads like this were supposed to convince you buying shit was a good idea – this one seems to assume you already want to buy yer BBQ, but just can’t quite figure out how to. “I just love spending money, but if only I knew where to do it…”

I have no idea how anyone could have even thought this was a good idea even conceptually, but somehow it made it onto the streets of Brooklyn as a finished product.

Shoutout to Copyranter for fostering my appreciation for shitty New York advertising.

Writing the New Newspaper

Say goodbye. (from WallyG’s flickr, CC Licensed)

Ah yes, the lament for newspapers. I came across an example of one from the NY Times, written (characteristically) by Timothy Egan, a Times writer with a full time job and a Pulitzer – which sums up many of the fears and potential news-y types see in the transforming newsmedia environment.

Right off the bat, there’s pulling at the heartstrings of those who believe in American democracy. A Tommy J quote. A call to an informed citizenry. All the high-notes of any eulogy to a lost age of democracy. Too bad all this ignores the history (recent and less-recent) of the newspaper industry and its connection to democracy.

Many papers rely on a monopolistic domination of particular media markets, creating ‘one-paper’ towns and acting as gatekeepers limiting the diverse range of political voices that make up a city. You can find any number of examples supporting this: my hometown of Austin Texas has one regular daily, the Austin-American Statesman, that managed to endorse Bush in a liberal town twice, and fail to cover any of the incredible activist activity i know is going on in Austin, giving a fine-and-rosy picture of political life in the midst of a wave of development/gentrification and increased police violence.

Almost all papers have a vested interest in real estate growth, either through ad revenue from developers or potential increased subscriptions from new arrivals. Many reporters work closely with government officials on a daily basis, requiring a cozy relationship to keep the scoops coming, meaning that they’re unlikely to open up serious criticism of government when the chips are down. Corporate criticism is likely to be even more half-hearted. (The history of America’s ‘paper of record’ (The New York Times) is no better – read Manufacturing Consent for an exhaustive study on the reporting biases of the Gray Lady). This article’s lament of reporters who ‘brought to life the daily narrative of a city’ is so much claptrap considering the systemic interests many have in writing a story their advertisers and editors would like.

The second half of the article does raise some interesting points however. According to the author, online newspaper readership has increased the total number of people who rely on newspapers for their daily news. Despite this ad revenue is down, and reporters continue losing their jobs. Here’s where we get to Egan’s real problem:

“In its present form, and even in best-case projections, the Web format will never generate enough money to keep viable reporting staffs afloat at some of the nation’s biggest papers.”

Now we know the issue: the web will signal the downfall of writers like himself, those who report for reporting’s sake, career journalists. His concern is that without this cadre of career merely writers, we will lose the watchdog of democracy – a task that the “gossip, political spin and original insight on sites like the Drudge Report or The Huffington Post” cannot take on. This type of dismissive attitude towards new journalism echoes what I called ‘civic guilt’ in another post – its reactive chiding that revels in the impotence of that which it defends with even more impotent rhetoric.

Yes, in the future, we may not have full time reporters. That does not mean we won’t have real journalism – it just means the people writing will have to be something other than merely reporters (who, despite “rubbing shoulders with a cop, a defense attorney or a distressed family in a Red Cross shelter” often fall into their own absurd or asinine habits that keep them from being effective). More likely we will have savants and celebrity, either people working, living then writing about it from the grounded perspective of an area-specific Savant (see Atlantic Yards Report or Brownstoner for New York examples), or folks who, capitalize on their name or style to build readership (Mr. Egan is a minor example, also see any of the Village Voice‘s main staff writers, or Huffington Post and Drudge Report, which are named after people for a telling reason). The role of the new newspaper will be to sort the wheat from the chaff, identifying developing stories from a variety of sources, then providing depth and commentary to what has already been written to direct traffic to your site versus others.

As with voting, it is not up to us to ‘save the press.’ It is up to newspapers to save themselves by developing the style and particular substance suited to the new media environment.