Avoiding a ‘Halcyon’ Era

“The next ten 10-15 years are going to be a halcyon era for corrupt politicians.” – David Simon, former reporter with The Baltimore Sun and creator of The Wire, May 9, 2009.

The quote above comes from David Simon’s testimony to the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet during a hearing on “The Future of Journalism.” Of course, the quote is a chilling remark from a man who spent a considerable amount of time “beating the bushes” as a newspaper reporter. The bulk of his testimony was spent bemoaning the unending and, in many ways, calamitous fall of newspapers around the country and what could happen because of it – namely, corruption run amuck. Of course, in the Northwest, we watched the finality of the collapse of one of the country’s major newspapers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, earlier this year after a 146-year run. Will we witness the rise of a new type of newspaper?

During his testimony, Mr. Simon refused to bend to a fellow panelist, Arianna Huffington, the creator of The Huffington Post, an online publication, when she posited that citizen journalists and bloggers are already filling the role of the enterprising newspaper journalist at city council, school board and town hall meetings.

Of course this is not a new discussion. It seems both Mr. Simon and Ms. Huffington represent the two sides of what is becoming an increasingly rhetorical conflict: new media (on-line, instantaneous) vs. old media (traditional newsprint), “nose-to-the-grindstone” journalists vs. opinionated writers, people who grab the paper from the mailbox every morning vs. people who head to their desktop with a cup of coffee. And although the discussion is always frank, always heady and always topical, is it really the discussion that is important? For instance, writing metaphorically, just because in today’s media world Bob Woodward may no longer meet with ‘deep-throat’ under the auspices of the Washington Post, the meeting will still likely take place, correct?

Because the world is, no doubt, getting smaller and it is more important than ever for the general public to be well informed, the conversation in the world’s greatest Republic must center on the question of profit – not the merits of new media vs. old media. Many old media types resent new media types for criticizing old media’s failed business model while they operate, seemingly, without any model at all; and both sides have a point. Ultimately, the discussion is incredibly passé; it’s no longer newsworthy. Consequently, the real discussion must center on new media’s ability to fund their quickly expanding world before its own collapse. Old media relied – perhaps to heavily – on advertising revenue. The collapse of the traditional newspaper is not due to advertisers disappearing – if that were the case, no traditional newspaper would still be published. The collapse of the traditional newspaper – among other things – is due to the fracturing of the advertising marketplace – and traditional newspapers refusal to adapt in a timely manner.

Thankfully, we have a wonderful model in the Northwest to more fully understand the question of profit for new media. Westseattleblog.com is an amazingly in-depth, instantaneous on-line community “newspaper” that is, by far, the most reliable, straight-forward and succinct on-line publication in the region. Perhaps westseattleblog.com has a head-start on the funding answer and may provide a unique model for other entrepreneurs, journalists and laymen to study. If, for instance, one is a resident of West Seattle and wants to learn details about a small business gathering at the local recreation center, all it takes is a visit to the site for accurate and thorough information. Precise, succinct and responsive journalism – that business sounds promising, doesn’t it?

Additionally, just last week, Patrick posted on the news that PubliCola.net, a Northwest focused news site run by Josh Feit and Sandeep Kaushik, both formerly of The Stanger, received two new investors that will help PubliCola “…be around for some time to come.” By all accounts, as the medium continues to evolve, news of Northwest “newspapers” thriving financially will become mundane.

Instead of discussing the merits of the increasingly diminished old media and the merits of an, often times, faceless, and perhaps nameless, new media, the country should be discussing how best to make good, responsible citizen journalism profitable. Without new media earning a reputation that equals profit while old media continues to slash expenses in the newsroom, corruption of all kinds will receive the benefit of, what Mr. Simon so aptly termed, a halcyon era.

Photo licensed under Creative Commons 2.0, Flickr.

Tags: David Simon, featured, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Baltimore Sun, The Huffington Post, The Wire, westseattleblog.com

Anton

Anton Northwood is a Seattle resident who spends much of his time working on the Eastside.

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