Does this sound familiar?
Communities and even entire countries seem to have less and less control of their own destinies. Traditional power structures are baffled by below-replacement fertility rates, illegal immigration and massive currency flows. Continue reading
The Columbia Journalism Review takes on a familiar trope — the scarcity of attention — and riffs on it in relation to journalism.
Attention—our most precious resource—is in increasingly short supply. To win the war for our attention, news organizations must make themselves indispensable by producing journalism that helps make sense of the flood of information that inundates us all.
Attention, with respect to Herbert Simon, is not scarce. It is a constant.
It’s just managed in ways that readers of the Columbia Journalism Review may find disappointing. Continue reading
In an elegiac musing by Jon Friedman on the decline of the traditional foreign correspondent, Why foreign correspondents are a dying breed, there is a welcome reality check in the comments from one of those people formerly known as… read it below and remember who you write for.
Foreign correspondents (and all journalists) are becoming increasingly useless. Is it any wonder advertising revenue is falling for antiquated purveyors of “news”? I can get webcam/video of almost anywhere in the world right this second, read blogs from posters throughout the world on demand — who the heck needs “news” agencies at all? Freelancing is the future of all information industry, as was alluded to in the article.And cry me a river about journalists becoming “disenchanted” … oh, so sad, we are no longer powerful, important, entrenched, Edward R. Murrow wannabe, with endless funding and job security forever. Hey m*****, half the U.S. IT jobs are now living in India and Russia, and most of us work daily with our teams overseas. We are d*** well aware of what’s going on in the world, because our livelihoods depend on it. Adapt, find a new way to work, or get run over. Welcome to the real world, kids.