Blog
08.25
Saving Journalism. Is there an app for that?
Wired magazine recently posted a fascinating article entitled "The Web is Dead. Long Live the Internet."
In the article, the author poised (through my paraphrasing) an interesting idea: Will apps save journalism?
Think about it.
Circulations are swirling down the toilet of our economy. Reporters are being laid off almost daily. And most people are finding their news from RSS feeds, blogs and mobile TV.
Now, walks in a dusky-hued sunflower fresh from a morning jog and impressing all the smartphone-carrying nerds within a three-mile radius. (Yeah, I finally joined those ranks too.)
The more publications produce *FREE* apps for their outlets (just sayin'), the more those former subscribers are becoming app downloaders. And, according to a snazzy chart in the article, apps are the sole cause for the Internet's biggest growth in traffic (51 percent, even).
All my local media are housed comfortably on my pocket blowtorch. If you are a flack or a concerned citizen, yours may be as well.
Why? Is it convenience? Is it a rejuvenated interest in the news? Or is it just the cost of doing new business?
Personally, I still think technology is not killing the media... just journalists.
There is a new breed of news purveyors out there and the onus is up to news magnates and local outlets alike to figure out how to reach them while still embracing the sweet, clean smell of a paper and the welcoming sound of those pages flipping back and forth.
I do not drink coffee, but nothing screams Sunday mornings louder than my dad with his Folgers on the table whisping through a copy of The Dallas Morning News.
Of course, maybe there will be an app for that and this post (as well as that fond memory) becomes obselete. We'll see.
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