Another One Bites the Dust
In response to Tim O’Reilly’s comments on the state of the San Francisco Chronicle, Dave Winer wrote a piece about what changes should be occurring in the journalism industry. He suggests that they should reform journalism school and then have the industry embrace bloggers.
While I don’t think that old media is crumbling, they need to embrace new media if they are going to stand any chance of continuing their media domination. Although the San Francisco Chronicle may be in trouble, you also have to figure that San Francisco is one of the most wired cities in the country. Additionally the city is right around the corner from Silicon Valley. As a result you would figure that this news organization would be one of the first to fall for not quickly adapting to the new media landscape.
A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak with the Washington consulate for the largest Korean newspaper. Surprisingly he suggested that there is a clear differentiation between newspaper companies and new media companies. Ironically, his company has a website and most of the journalists have their own blog on their website. I think that this individual was simply not aware of how his company is adapting to new media. All of the newspaper companies should be following the lead of the New York Times if they are going to succeed in the new media environment.