Editorial Cartoonist David Horsey contributed a provocative column to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Sunday. Within the column, Horsey laments that financial collapse threatens real journalism. He also shares a quote from ABC News Anchor Charlie Gibson, who said: “The person who will deserve all the awards in the future will be the guy who figures out a new way to make money delivering the news.” You can read the article by clicking on this link, and it’s an article well worth your time.
As someone who still remembers her first field trip to the newsroom at the Los Angeles Times as a young girl with dreams of becoming a journalist, I feel a great tug of sadness and dismay about the ultimate fate of newspapers.
At the same time, I am fascinated by the speed of the Internet in delivering the news. I am compelled by the new contributors to the blogosphere every day and the influence they have in shaping public opinion and action in the marketplace. The power and impact of social networking offer high touch ways to connect one-to-one with others in all matters. I am amazed by the influence that Google has played in making it easy for all of us to find what we need in an instant. The concept of “narrowcasting” as opposed to “broadcasting” has my interest in a big way.
As a publicist working in the trenches every day, this is an exciting time — not without its challenges — to learn and apply new ways to explore to help clients get seen, heard, and celebrated in their own backyards and beyond through the power of online publicity.
To learn some new things, I read “What Would Google Do?” by Jeff Jarvis over the weekend, and I couldn’t put it down. Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist says, “… this is an exceptional book that captures the massive changes the internet is effecting in our culture, in marketing, and in advertising.” Seth Godin, author of Tribes, says, “Wait, Stop. In your hands you hold a rare thing, the work of a genuine visionary, someone willing to regularly and aggressively challenge the status quo. Five years from now, many people are going to regret the fact that they didn’t read this book today, when they had the chance. Don’t make that mistake. Google wouldn’t.” Don Tapscott, coauthor of Wikinomics and Grown Up Digital says, “If you want to understand how the innovation around the New Web is the antithesis of the dot-com period, read this book. It’ll open your eyes to a ton of real possibilities for your business in the new world.”
Jarvis has a blog called www.buzzmachine.com, and I plan to visit often to see what else he has to say based on how much I enjoyed his best-selling book.
Socrates said, “The only thing certain is change.” With regard to the dramatic and constant change in online and traditional media, the only choice to survive, thrive, and stay in the know is to embrace it. Ignoring it clearly isn’t an option.
