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Once upon a time, publishing (especially newspapers) had a really nifty model. They could serve the public interest and bring useful, educating and entertaining content to the general public by funding it with a simple combination of subscriptions, classifieds and advertising. They even got to the point where they felt comfortable not only giving the public what they wanted, but what the public needed.
Then, slowly for some (but very suddenly for publishers who boasts 150+ year runs) the money wandered off. The classifieds went to places like Craig's list, Match.com and Hotjobs. The web made readers feel that paying for content was unnecessary. Advertisers were already being seduced by TV's rich and sexy messaging.
Knight-Ridder moved to San Jose, in hopes of scenting which way the wind would blow from next; New York Times took a page from Innovator's Dilemma and spun out a digital company to take advantage of the new medium. But still they struggle to hold their place. Kids today just don't like blackened fingers...
The platform is still slipping. Content creation, in particular, is in danger. Sites like Digg, blogs, metafilter and others make their name by pointing at other's work, and adding in the bias of choice (mock the right, jeer the left.) Will the web soon be a series of links pointing to links, half-baked ponderings and opinionated garbage like what you are enjoying now?
"Will the web soon be a series of links pointing to links, half-baked ponderings and opinionated garbage like what you are enjoying now?"
Yet here I am, reading you, instead of reading the New York Times. Your opinions are much more interesting to me then anything I will find in the Washington Post, or in Wired magazine. Here I am at my office, with a relaxed schedule because it is a Saturday, and so I have some time to read the news, and who am I reading? I'm reading your site. And I'm reading Tara Hunt, over at Horse, Pig, Cow. I'll check out Shelley Powers site. I'll check Roger Cadenhead's site. When I'm done reading about the tech world, I'll read some politics at Radley Balko's site, and at Majikthise, and I'll read Jim Henley's site. I won't be reading the Washington Post or the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. Partly, that's because those sites, without some filtering, tend to bore me. Partly, its because I depend on bloggers to filter the news for me, just like I depend on my friends to filter what's important to them and what information they give to me. Filtering is one of the "value-added" services that blogs perform. But also, partly, I avoid (say, for instance) the New York Times because all the articles are written with a fake tone of ultimate authority and truth, despite the fact that I know the articles are written by actual human beings, possessing all the flaws and biases of human beings. That fake tone of authority strikes me as some kind of lie. Blogs are vastly more honest, in that regard.
That is why I'm here, reading you, instead of over at the New York Times site, reading the news. You're a human being, just like all the writers at the New York Times, but you're honest about it, whereas they are not.