Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable

Clay Shirky by Clay Shirky | Mar. 14, 2009 (Opinion)

(Blog Post) When someone demands to be told how we can replace newspapers, they are really demanding to be told that we are not living through a revolution. They are demanding to be told that old systems won’t break before new systems are in place. They are demanding to be told that ancient social bargains aren’t in peril, that core institutions will be spared, that new methods of spreading information will improve previous practice rather than upending it. They ... Full Story »

Posted by Kaizar Campwala - via Columbia Journalism Review

See All Reviews »

View

3.0

by Liz Scott - Mar. 15, 2009

It is well-written, therefore the reader takes it quite seriously at first blush. However, the writer mocks every suggestion to save journalism ( necesary to our civilzation) and insists there is no choice but to wait for evolution, or mutation, or something. He bases much of his argument on a story about a 14-year-old boy being able to successfully pirate Dave Barry columns once upon a time. This, he inists, proves there is no way journalists can charge for online stories, dispite the fact that many publications already do . The Wall Street Journal? --Oh who wants to read that anyway?" -- That's his argument.

Journalism will survive, or civilization will fall. Take a deep breath, everybody, and charge for online content.