Tuesday, April 25, 2006

The future of newspapers (cont'd) ...

Abe at NYC24 links to a New Media Survey in the Economist. Much has been made of the parallel between blogging and the invention of movable type. But the decisive factor in the 15th century wasn't the printing press so much as it was the employment of the vernacular as the language of choice. Had Latin remained dominant, things might have turned out quite differently. Writing in the vernacular parallels blogging also: people deciding to do journalism on their own, by themselves - and finding they can do it as well or, in some cases, better than the professionals. And by so doing taking away the mystique.
[But you're a professional journalist. - ed. To quote a guy from back then: "If this be heresy, then make the most of it."]

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