What ails newspapers?

Monday, 4th August 2008

To read Guido, you'd think the British dead-tree media was already dead and buried. (But then what would bloggers write about?) In Slate, Jack Shafer looks at the reasons why the American press is struggling. Echoing Adrian Monck, he argues it's less to do with the actual journalism:

Not that long ago, the daily newspaper was an indispensable coiner of social currency, and it gave its readers piles of the stuff in each edition....Take, for instance, the voluminous results of newspaper sports pages. Terrific for sports fans, of course, but the sports pages have been used to grease sales calls, break ice on first dates, and fuel water-cooler bonding for a century...
Other institutions do far better jobs at issuing social currency... What is Facebook but the Federal Reserve Bank of social currency? ... Like cocktail chatter, a Facebook posting—be it a link, a list, a photo, or travel plans—conveys the message, I am here. Listen to me... These days, you can't raise your status more than a bump by carrying the Wall Street Journal under your arm.

As I don't think I've ever looked at more than two Facebook entries in my life (no, I'm not proud of that) I have no idea whether he's right.