It will be 11 years on Aug. 1 since I retired from the Courier News. Since then, the delivery of news has been completely transformed, whether for better or worse is debatable.
The thump of the print newspaper on the front porch used to be the signal event for finding out what was new in the world. No more - the "news" comes at us now from many directions, more immediate than ever, so that what appears in print has already been heard and viewed many times over.
Curiously, as the capacity to deliver news has expanded with digital devices, some might say the content has shriveled, especially locally. Routine coverage of school and governmental news is a thing of the past. News with a "staff report" attribution is usually not gathered by news staff, but is a press release or reader-submitted item. Waves of buyouts and layoffs have thinned actual newsroom staff to skeletal proportions. Reporters now must also be photographers and videographers to feed the "digital platform" as newspapers continually try to reinvent themselves.
The array of news gatherers now includes bloggers and many small online operations that compete with the so-called "legacy media" for advertising revenue. Meanwhile, the personal news of one's family and friends on social media is often of higher interest than what is happening in the larger world.
I have no particular point to make in offering these observations. I don't even see any trends in the chaotic world of news delivery. It is simply amazing to me to see these changes in just a decade or so. Any comments?
--Bernice
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Sheriff Froehlich have passed away
ReplyDeletepolitickernj broke the story
Deletehttp://www.politickernj.com/77506/union-county-sheriff-ralph-froehlich-has-died
Three observations:
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt whatsoever that if Marx were alive today he would declare media to be the opiate of the masses. Any day now I think we'll see one of those NYT infographics that correlates the rise in screen culture to a decrease in church attendance. In Plainfield that must put pressure on the membership of the historically black churches and the the newer latino christian population. In Plainfield that's got to have long term political implications.
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The rise of centralized electronic media at the expense of locally owned print-based businesses was predictable for all kinds of reasons. I think it's a significant step up in coverage of many topics that reach wide audiences. But for local news outlets, that by definition serve small markets, not so much. Is there hope for improvement? I think we're entering the teen years of the electronically connected life cycle and we've got a ways to go before settling in. There are tons of underemployed but very educated people with time on their hands and a lot of digital entrepreneurs looking to make their mark. If the two can be matched up in a sustainable and productive way it will be interesting. Let's see what happens over the next decade.
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I know that you, Bernice P, think about who will follow the path you've forged. How can you identify, inspire and mentor future news gatherers and distributors? Who can you partner with to increase coverage without compromising your column's quality, integrity or general charm. I don't know the answer I do know it's absolutely worth seeking.
Bernice, as a long-time pr consultant, I share your awe over the changes in media in the past decade, particularly those in central New Jersey. It's still a hallenge to find a good reporter, and you are definitely missed. The Courier-News' loss is Plainfield's gain, however. Thanks for the excellent work that you do for our city.
ReplyDeleteBeki Perkins