When someone demands to know how we are going to 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 are demanding to be lied to. There are fewer and fewer people who can convincingly tell such a lie.
—
Clay Shirky in Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable [thx LD]
Clay Shirky in Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable [thx LD]
Killian
on 04 May 09Works for the music industry as well viva la revolution!
Jay Owen
on 05 May 09Newspapers are quickly becoming yesterday’s news (quite literally). The internet has revolutionized how we get news and as mobile technology continues to prevail, that will only continue to happen.
doppler
on 05 May 09I dunno. Maybe the dailies are in peril. I look forward to Thursdays, when the free weekly paper Austin Chronicle hits the stands. I make sure to have lunch somewhere that I can pick up a copy and read it while I wait for my order, and while I eat. Those nerds using laptops are gonna get taco grease on their keyboards.
George St John
on 05 May 09Newspapers will change into something else. We will simply still get the news delivered but not via paper.
andy
on 05 May 09Life happens offline.
Anonymous Coward
on 05 May 09That was a sweet piece.
Dex
on 07 May 09Well, for someone like Clay Shirky, who uses the phrase “the Internet runs on love”, he must certainly know beyond a reasonable doubt that he knows what he’s pontificating about.
Or not.
Then again he could just be another fluffer like Tom Friedman, from the NYT
Personally, I’ll listen to someone like David Simon, who knows what he’s talking about.
This discussion is closed.