Can design save the newspaper?
Out of context: Reply #16
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- Nairn0
I mean, PonyBoy, that the service merits of the industry should be worth fighting for - worth promoting. I'm not saying the form of media itself is due a governmental break (though don't think it's a necessarily a bad idea either), but rather the content and public purpose it serves - be it on paper, on screen or ebook. Televised media is a highly poor substitute for educational news (next time you're watching the news, do a word count, then go find a decent comparative newspaper article, and compare depth and breadth of coverage). Fuck the trite aphorism that 'a picture speaks a thousand words', it gives nothing by way of educated opinion or analysis by relevant thought-leaders.
Leaving things to market forces, as you seem to be suggesting, would only lead to the further degradation of service and replacement with fetid sleb culture and vacuous gossip and feel-good nothingness that continues to erode mass-media.
Of course, I'd rather we had a viable micropayment model to sustain transference to a functional new media model, or assurance that a quality service can be delivered online, paid solely by advertising (which seems to be a viable proposition, if the success of NYT online or purchase by Murdoch of the WSJ recently are anything to go by).