"The speech-astonishing not so much for what it said as for who said it-may go down in history as the day that the stodgy newspaper business officially woke up to the new realities of the internet age."- The Economist"
What I worry about much more is our ability to make the necessary cultural changes to meet the new demands of the digital native. I said earlier, what is required is a complete transformation of the way we think about our product and the Internet itself. Unfortunately, however, I believe too many of us editors and reporters are out of touch with our readers. Too often, the question we ask is "Do we have the story?" rather than "Does anyone want the story?"And the data support this unpleasant truth. Studies show we're in an odd position: We're more trusted by the people who aren't reading us. And when you ask journalists what they think about their readers, the picture grows darker. According to one recent study, the percentage of national journalists who have a great deal of confidence in the ability of the American public to make good decisions has declined by more than 20 points since 1999. Perhaps this reflects their personal politics and personal prejudices more than anything else, but it is disturbing.
This is a polite way of saying that reporters and editors think their readers are stupid. ...
Newspapers whose employees look down on their readers can have no hope of ever succeeding as a business.
Amen
The speech, and Jeff Jarvis' posts here and here should be required reading by every newspaper editor and journalist in the business.
Via Instapundit
A little historical perspective on "Freedom of the Press" in Canada. A bit windy, my apologies in advance...
Clause 1, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms....
1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
Exerpted from Free Speech and Joseph Howe by Cecil Rosner published in The Beaver, Feb/Mar 2005...
On New Years Day, 1835 a letter appeared in the Halifax newspaper Novascotian
The publisher of the Novascotian was a man named Joseph Howe. Following publication of the letter, "Justice moved rapidly". Howe was charged with "seditiously contriving, devising and intending to stir up and incite discontent and sedition among His Majesty's subjects." Then (as now it would seem) truth was no defense in a case of criminal libel and no attorney would take on the case in Howe's defense. He chose therefore, to speak for himself. In the trial before a jury, which took place March 2, 1835, Howe issued a scathing denounciation of arbitrary power and a ringing endorsement of freedom of speech. He was aquited. Magistrates were forced to resign.
Unfortunately, the Howe verdict was more symbolic than enduring as a legal precedent. Clause 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms includes the phrase...subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. and this interpretive leeway has been employed by the judiciary in Canada to successfully prosecute reporters and the media for libel even in instances when the published information was true and in the public interest. Thus it remains to this day that, in Canada, the truth is not a sufficient defense in a case of libel.
In the United States, it is extremely difficult for public figures to bring libel charges against anyone as a result of constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and the press as well as a landmark 1964 ruling in the case known as New York Times v. Sullivan. The cornerstone of this ruling was the idea that the people should have the right to criticize their elected representatives without fear of repercussion. Canadians, sadly, do not enjoy these freedoms.
The mainstream media might not have figured out yet exactly how powerful this medium is, and that demographics will mean more and more citizens will understand it and use that power to find things like this, which makes it all the more distressing to consider our government's failure to succeed in its investigation of Air India, as it (superficially anyway) looks like this disaster took one of its own.
Oltx, the dark art in such slippery wording in the Charter is that it manifestly creates the illusion of rights and freedoms.
I have a feeling that if the Feds ever tried to go after a blogger for something they said, that was deemed to be factual, the protest on the internet, and in public would be massive. The response from the Gag order and CQ was just a small indicator.
While the Jeancula graphic was funny, it had the wrong face. Consider who is teaching our university students about democracy these days, and how balanced their academic training might be.
Speaking of MSM, I'm hearing of a brand NEW scandal involving a Liberal member and rent or something on some building involving millions. Anybody know anyhing about it?
You are referring to a privately owned building, rented by the government for around a year, while it could not be occupied because it was still being built. Not to worry- the feds have now occupied much of it. Interestingly, they now announce that they are going to sell a cluster of buildings in Gatineau, Quebec, to 'save money'.
Gatineau is part of the 'National Capital Commission', which means they are Federally owned, which means they were built with taxpayers' money in the first place. Those buildings currently house 25,000 government flunkies- I wonder how many of them are from anywhere except Quebec? ( Of course- in order to make the buildings "attractive to a prospective customer, a lot of money will have to be spent on them") Which suggests that the Federales can still shovel a lot of money out the back door before that power is taken away from them. (Our tax money.)
Morning Dave...
I don't think that's it, it has something to do with a rookie conservative that found over 6 million that vanished and reported it today. Just haven't seen a thing on it yet, and it he will be on Warren on the weekend in about 10 min. MST.
Damn Dave..... your right, 500K per month on that building, to someone named Liberal Senator Paul Masadi or somthing like that. With possible kickbacks. A company named Alexis Neon. Spelling may be totally off, getting it from radio, but it is the Gatineau building, and it was empty for the first year.
We should never forget that the power of this medium can benefit all loci on the political spectrum. For instance, if you find yourself in a national emergency, and need something to say on your state-controlled TV network in a big hurry, you can quickly search and find something helpful, like this .
Hat tip: Kofi Annan
Found it....
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/print/CTVNews/1114108517186_109517717/?hub=CTVNewsAt11&subhub=PrintStory