Newspapers: The future of journalism
Blog tasks
Go to the Nieman Lab webpage (part of Harvard university) and watch the video of Clay Shirky presenting to Harvard students. The video is also available on YouTube below but the Nieman Lab website has a written transcript of everything Shiky says.
Play the clip AND read along with the transcript below to ensure you are following the argument. You need to watch from the beginning to 29.35 (the end of Shirky's presentation). Once you've watched and read the presentation and made notes (you may want to copy and paste key quotes from the transcript), answer the questions below:
1) Why does Clay Shirky argue that 'accountability journalism' is so important and what example does he give of this?
Clay Shirky gives an example of Father John Geoghan, a priest and a paedophile in the 60's who had raped or fondled with over 100 boys in his care. He argues that accountability journalism is important because it draws attention to people's wrongdoings andholds them accountable, it also allows people to complain so that something can be done about it.
2) What does Shirky say about the relationship between newspapers and advertisers? Which websites does he mention as having replaced major revenue-generators for newspapers (e.g. jobs, personal ads etc.)?
The first of them was that advertisers were forced to overpay for the services they received, because there weren’t many alternatives for reaching people with display ads — or especially things like coupons. And because they overpaid, the newspapers essentially had the kind of speculative investment capital to do long-range, high-risk work. So it isn’t enough to be commercial; you have to be commercial at a level above what some theoretical market would bare. Advertisers were also underserved, there was a time when Ford went to the New York Times during the rollover stories and told them if they keep going on this then they may just pull all Ford ads in the New York Times, it was a big part of what kept newspapers from suffering from commercial capture to say "where else are you going to go?" to the advertiser. Also, media is now created by demand rather than supply which means that the next webpages are printed when someone wants it to be printed, not printed and stored in advance. Websites like Monster, Match and Craiglist know that if they want to list jobs or sell a bike they do not go to the printing news but would go to a place that is good for listing jobs and selling bikes. And so you would launch a business in order to give profits to the shareholders.
3) Shirky talks about the 'unbundling of content'. This means people are reading newspapers in a different way. How does he suggest audiences are consuming news stories in the digital age?
Shirky talks about how adverts that are included in print newspapers are not suited to their audience but adverts that produce commercial interest in the least interested user. He suggests that audiences consume stories in bulk instead or do not directly go to news websites, they click on a link from Twitter or Facebook and go straight to the news story. He suggests that the audience is now being assembled by other members of the audience and not by the paper.
4) Shirky also talks about the power of shareable media. How does he suggest the child abuse scandal with the Catholic Church may have been different if the internet had been widespread in 1992?
In 1992, The Boston Globe ran 50 stories about the priest abuse and through that year the stories went nowhere. It shocked people and then died out and because of that Geoghan kept after it. He suggests that if the internet was widespread then it would have been easier and quicker as the story can be forwarded again and again and then would have been able to resolved the matter.
5) Why does Shirky argue against paywalls?
Shirky is against paywalls because it restricts people from accessing news and stops spreading so there is less people being informed. He says adding restrictions is to take an infinite good, and to be able to sell it as if it's a finite good. This prevents the audiences ability to act as a citizen journalist and wouldn't be able to publish their own work.
6) What is a 'social good'? In what way is journalism a 'social good'?
Journalism acts as a social good because it is harder to control and sustain from a commercial perspective, social good benefits the public and is for their good.
7) Shirky says newspapers are in terminal decline. How does he suggest we can replace the important role in society newspapers play? What is the short-term danger to this solution that he describes?
Shirky states: "We need a class of institutions or models, whether they’re endowments or crowdsourced or what have you — we need a model that produces five percent of accountability journalism." He also says that newspapers will be irreplaceable in their production of accountability journalism.
8) Look at the first question and answer regarding institutional power. Give us your own opinion: how important is it that major media brands such as the New York Times or the Guardian continue to stay in business and provide news?
I think it is important for major media brands such as New York Times and the Guardian to stay in business and provide news. This is because newspapers act as the most trust worthy and reliable source that provides accurate information an example of quality journalism. Without these newspapers to be referred to by other sources and medias then the level of news being reported may decline as newspapers are where they get their information from.
Go to the Nieman Lab webpage (part of Harvard university) and watch the video of Clay Shirky presenting to Harvard students. The video is also available on YouTube below but the Nieman Lab website has a written transcript of everything Shiky says.
Play the clip AND read along with the transcript below to ensure you are following the argument. You need to watch from the beginning to 29.35 (the end of Shirky's presentation). Once you've watched and read the presentation and made notes (you may want to copy and paste key quotes from the transcript), answer the questions below:
1) Why does Clay Shirky argue that 'accountability journalism' is so important and what example does he give of this?
Clay Shirky gives an example of Father John Geoghan, a priest and a paedophile in the 60's who had raped or fondled with over 100 boys in his care. He argues that accountability journalism is important because it draws attention to people's wrongdoings andholds them accountable, it also allows people to complain so that something can be done about it.
2) What does Shirky say about the relationship between newspapers and advertisers? Which websites does he mention as having replaced major revenue-generators for newspapers (e.g. jobs, personal ads etc.)?
The first of them was that advertisers were forced to overpay for the services they received, because there weren’t many alternatives for reaching people with display ads — or especially things like coupons. And because they overpaid, the newspapers essentially had the kind of speculative investment capital to do long-range, high-risk work. So it isn’t enough to be commercial; you have to be commercial at a level above what some theoretical market would bare. Advertisers were also underserved, there was a time when Ford went to the New York Times during the rollover stories and told them if they keep going on this then they may just pull all Ford ads in the New York Times, it was a big part of what kept newspapers from suffering from commercial capture to say "where else are you going to go?" to the advertiser. Also, media is now created by demand rather than supply which means that the next webpages are printed when someone wants it to be printed, not printed and stored in advance. Websites like Monster, Match and Craiglist know that if they want to list jobs or sell a bike they do not go to the printing news but would go to a place that is good for listing jobs and selling bikes. And so you would launch a business in order to give profits to the shareholders.
3) Shirky talks about the 'unbundling of content'. This means people are reading newspapers in a different way. How does he suggest audiences are consuming news stories in the digital age?
Shirky talks about how adverts that are included in print newspapers are not suited to their audience but adverts that produce commercial interest in the least interested user. He suggests that audiences consume stories in bulk instead or do not directly go to news websites, they click on a link from Twitter or Facebook and go straight to the news story. He suggests that the audience is now being assembled by other members of the audience and not by the paper.
4) Shirky also talks about the power of shareable media. How does he suggest the child abuse scandal with the Catholic Church may have been different if the internet had been widespread in 1992?
In 1992, The Boston Globe ran 50 stories about the priest abuse and through that year the stories went nowhere. It shocked people and then died out and because of that Geoghan kept after it. He suggests that if the internet was widespread then it would have been easier and quicker as the story can be forwarded again and again and then would have been able to resolved the matter.
5) Why does Shirky argue against paywalls?
Shirky is against paywalls because it restricts people from accessing news and stops spreading so there is less people being informed. He says adding restrictions is to take an infinite good, and to be able to sell it as if it's a finite good. This prevents the audiences ability to act as a citizen journalist and wouldn't be able to publish their own work.
6) What is a 'social good'? In what way is journalism a 'social good'?
Journalism acts as a social good because it is harder to control and sustain from a commercial perspective, social good benefits the public and is for their good.
7) Shirky says newspapers are in terminal decline. How does he suggest we can replace the important role in society newspapers play? What is the short-term danger to this solution that he describes?
Shirky states: "We need a class of institutions or models, whether they’re endowments or crowdsourced or what have you — we need a model that produces five percent of accountability journalism." He also says that newspapers will be irreplaceable in their production of accountability journalism.
8) Look at the first question and answer regarding institutional power. Give us your own opinion: how important is it that major media brands such as the New York Times or the Guardian continue to stay in business and provide news?
I think it is important for major media brands such as New York Times and the Guardian to stay in business and provide news. This is because newspapers act as the most trust worthy and reliable source that provides accurate information an example of quality journalism. Without these newspapers to be referred to by other sources and medias then the level of news being reported may decline as newspapers are where they get their information from.
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