Journalism links

Having recently been accepted to the J-School, I've been experiencing the same thrills and chills as many prospective and current reporters--excitement about New Media and their ilk interspersed with anxious spasms about the survival of the field as we know it. I've been thinking about making this (non-comprehensive) list for awhile as a means to keep track of the criticisms and possible solutions for reliable, effective coverage in the future. Recommendations of other articles are appreciated, as I'll be adding onto the list.

The Survival of Journalism: Ten Simple Facts (via swissmiss):

10 reasons why newspapers won't reinvent news (via kottke): A brief but more scathing list of traditional media's inability to compete (at least in their current incarnation) in the digital age.

News You Can Lose (via Waxy)

Crowd Funding - A Different Way to Pay for the News You Want: Sites like Spot.us have been getting a lot of buzz for trying this model, wherein readers directly fund articles they want to see covered.

The Death Throes of Print? (via DesignNotes)

The New Journalism: Goosing the Gray Lady (via Waxy)

Journalism's Digital Future (via DesignNotes)

End Times (The Atlantic via Letters In Bottles) I agree with the assertion made here that bloggers are the main fuel for the Long Tail, but think they severely lack the resources and support necessary to contend with full-fledged investigative reporting.

Let's Invent an iTunes for News counters The Atlantic:

"...while there is nothing sacred about The New York Times, the experienced, and yes, expensive journalistic muscle it deploys on events big and small is not going to be replaced by a vanguard of unpaid content providers. It’s not that journalism is impossibly difficult; it’s just that it takes enormous amounts of time and a willingness to stay with the story.

'Free is not a business model,' said Mr. Moffett of Bernstein. 'It sounded good and everybody got excited about it, but when you look around, it is clear that is creating havoc and will not work in the long term.'"

(emphasis added)

Slate's Jack Shafer responds with Building an iTunes for Newspapers, endorsing paid online publications that eschew the browser format (see this 2006 article):

"Why should a customer pay for newspapers online when they can get them free via the Web? Well, why does anybody pay for a print newspaper when they can get it free via the Web? The first answer is that despite the wonderfulness of the Web, the print version still does many things better than its electronic cousin. If you read newsprint, you know what I'm talking about. If you don't, I can't explain it to you."

Well...if it can't be explained, what future does it possibly have in a generation born and bred on online news? See the comments section on the article for more points of contention.

A Revolving Door of Editors and Publishers