Newspapers: September 2008 Archives
Okay, I realize this is the third post about the New York Times in two weeks. But bear with me as I again rely on them as trusted pioneers in a noble-and-desperate industry.It was announced this week that the Times is converging their media coverage into one consolidated desk [NY Observer]. What was once an aggregated collective between Business Day and Culture is melding into a new department that will "feed the news needs of both, as well as the feature wells of Sunday Business and Arts & Leisure".
Looking back at the Times' recent trend of digital exploration and execution, as well as its new media coverage, this is an interesting development for the paper. While it continues to suffer the same industry setbacks - more layoffs and section consolidation / cut-backs - it is also innovating and redefining what a print newspaper can be in the digital era.
Here's how I see this playing out: The Times more readily covers new media and digital phenomena under this hybrid department, like last weekend's article on Twitter and ambient awareness. Topics will be centrally identified ("Twitter"), but covered with broader cross-departmental insight and input. The newspaper then more closely mirrors the way we converse about new media; from a general news / happening perspective ("I just joined Twitter; are you on?"), a business perspective ("How does Twitter stay afloat?" "Has anyone monetized Twitter yet?"), cultural and social perspectives ("I never follow people unless I know them." "I met my best friend on Twitter."), and of course a technological perspective ("Will Twitter ever add fake-following or at least fix their downtime issues?").
I wouldn't be surprised if the weekly Digital section of the paper expanded to daily within the next six months. Nor would I be surprised to stumble on a rival organizations coverage of the Times' digital innovations. Though the challenge of sufficiently monetizing remains...
Clive Thompson, a contributor to publications like The New York Times and Wired, has an excellent article in this weekend's Times Magazine covering "ambient awareness", called "I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You". It digs deep into the mentality and psychology behind users of digital social networks. Get past the initial Facebook portion of the article, and you're rewarded with the most clear, articulate answer to the question, "Twitter - why?", I've ever seen in print.Carve out 15 minutes and dig in. If you don't use Twitter, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at what you read. And if you do use Twitter, as I do, there's some interesting self-reflected enlightenment for you as well.
