Can hackers save journalism?

techcrunch.com

3 points·jrwoodruff··3 comments

This is the most inane headline for the topic.

A. Journalism isn't going to die. Newspapers might, but Newspapers != Journalism B. They don't need hackers, they need entrepreneurs. As cool as hyperlocal news is, it's mostly just an iteration on the newspaper. It's not changing the game in any way.

The only thing I see wrong with newspapers is that the medium doesn't sell advertising very well. It only worked for so long because it had all of the market. Where else would you advertise in the 50's or 60's? I don't buy the "Yesterday's news" argument. I don't think that matters to 99% of the people. If that really mattered, TV would have killed off the Newspaper with CNN. Hell, radio would have killed off the newspaper if it mattered.

So true. There's a sense of desperate flailing as news media watch profits decline, and for some reason developing new technology is often treated as a last-ditch effort to salvage a sinking ship. I guess most of this strange behavior comes from the widespread lack of consensus about the future of media distribution and funding.

I definitely agree that regardless of the fate of newspapers and traditional news reporting, journalism and reporting themselves are by no means in jeopardy.

I think this may be one of the smarter things I've seen in the 'traditional' journalism world. I'd like to know if the opposite is true, as well: are there any newspapers encouraging their journalists to become coders?

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