Media 2.0
ddobbs | December 18, 2009
Until the digital age, content was scarce. It wasn't scarce because people didn't create it; it was scarce because it required an investment to distribute it. That's no longer true. Anybody with an Internet connection can make anything they write (or snap or video or sing) available to anybody else with an Internet connection. For just about free. That's just one reason -- among many -- why the amount of content choices available to everybody has mushroomed in the past 15 years.
When the supply of something goes up faster than demand, the price of the something drops. Or, put another way,…
ddobbs | April 3, 2009What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of long-form, slow-bake, "mainstream" journalism and the idiom we call the blogosphere? As per Bora, the meaning of these terms are shifting as we speak. Last night, using my recent story and blogging on PTSD as a point of focus, I put in my latest two cents on this subject at my talk -- actually a long conversation with host and audience -- at the NYU Science, Health and Environmental Program's "Inside-Out" lecture series.
This was a crowd of writers, journalism profs, and journalism students, and I think we were all surprised at how many…
ddobbs | January 22, 2009
In response to my post on himself, the NY Times, Zyprexa, Infinite Mind, etc.
ddobbs | January 20, 2009While some have chided Michael Hirschorn for offering the Huffington Post the as the most promising template for replacing print newspapers, another candidate Hirschorn mentioned has been strengthening its bid to combine access, clout, and experience with a Media 2.0 agility and energy (as recommended by top self-appointed MSM/blogosphere observers). Talking Points Memo just launched TPMDC, a DC office, and just substantially strengthened its DC bureau by adding the print-journo veteran Matt Cooper, most recently of Portfolio.
The premise is simple. Though the phrase is endlessly…
ddobbs | January 19, 2009Seth Godin offers another take on what we might miss if/when newspapers die: investigative journalism.
What's left is local news, investigative journalism and intelligent coverage of national news. Perhaps 2% of the cost of a typical paper. I worry about the quality of a democracy when the the state government or the local government can do what it wants without intelligent coverage. I worry about the abuse of power when the only thing a corrupt official needs to worry about is the TV news. I worry about the quality of legislation when there isn't a passionate, unbiased reporter there to…
ddobbs | January 19, 2009I stirred some ire last week when I asserted that the Times (for -- disclosure dept -- whom I sometimes write) and similar mainstream papers offer a public good through their unique combination of a) access to information and 2) clout with the public and government. Several readers took me to task (see the comments section of the post linked above), arguing that these papers have failed their public mission by dropping the ball several times lately, most notably during the run-up to the Iraq War. "Let the dinosaur die," is the argument. In a similar vein, some science bloggers (see this post…