Disruption, Transformation, Future of News

Goodbye and good luck to all of us : Columbia Journalism Review: ".... I’ve had chance to give considerable thought to the disruption, transformation—or whatever you want to call it —that began to hit home just as I was coming on board here in the spring of 2007. Along the way, I’ve come to some rather firm (some would say blunt) opinions on discrete media issues, like, for instance, the false promise of free news and the cost of amped-up newsroom productivity requirements, among other things. But I don’t pretend to know what’s going to work for the future of news. And after a recent tour of efforts to figure it out at places as different as Bloomberg, First Look, and Al Jazeera America, it is clear enough that they don’t know either. In fact, I don’t know if anybody knows. If someone tells you they do know, they’re probably a consultant...." (read more at link above)


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The Guardian, Live Events, Membership Model

Why the Guardian is smart to bet on live events and a membership model instead of paywalls — Tech News and Analysis: "... The Guardian isn’t the only newspaper to offer a form of membership, with different benefits based on how much they contribute: the Wall Street Journal offers something called WSJ+ to paying subscribers, which gives them access to invitation-only talks by experts on various topics, as well as special events like museum tours, or discounts on a round of golf at a private course. The New York Times also offers something called “Premier,” which gives subscribers who pay extra access to special features, including behind-the-scenes interviews with journalists...." (read more at link above)

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Newpapers, Death, Dying, Disintermediation

Last Call — Medium: "....The death of newspapers is sad, but the threatened loss of journalistic talent is catastrophic. If that’s you, it’s time to learn something outside the production routine of your current job. It will be difficult and annoying, your employer won’t be much help, and it may not even work, but we’re nearing the next great contraction. If you want to get through it, doing almost anything will be better than doing almost nothing." (read more at link above)

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Apple and the 20-year-old reporter

Good read on Mark Gurman, senior editor and "scoop master" at 9to5Mac.com -- excerpt:

Apple can't hide from a 20-year-old reporter : Columbia Journalism Review: "... Is Gurman a legitimate beat reporter? Apple apparently doesn’t think so.  The company doesn’t respond to him and has never invited him to a press event. (Not surprisingly, a spokesman did not reply to a request for comment about Gurman.) He attends Apple’s largest annual conference as a developer. He follows their big product announcements, which have an annoying habit of materializing before major exams, like everyone else: either via a live stream, if Apple provides one, or via the dozens of live bloggers who have more coveted status with Apple and land invites. “I don’t look at this as fair at all,” Gurman said. “But is it holding me back? Clearly not.” Swisher isn’t entirely sure Gurman is a reporter either — at least in the classical way one used to think of reporters. “He really loves Apple, but he’s not a cheerleader,” she said. “He loves the topic. And therefore he brings that curiousness into his writing. It creates a really compelling read. It’s much more passion than journalism, but it turns out he commits journalism all the time.”..." (read more at the link above)


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BuzzFeed Writer Fired, Plagiarism

BuzzFeed Politics Writer Is Fired Over Plagiarism - NYTimes.com: "The website BuzzFeed dismissed one of its writers on Friday after finding 41 instances of “sentences or phrases copied word for word from other sites” among the 500 stories he had written, said the site’s editor in chief, Ben Smith...." (read more at link above)

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