The inevitable question…how long will newspapers survive?
This week, The New York Times executive editor, Bill Keller, is holding an online Q & A for readers. Inevitably, numerous readers ask the question surrounding the future of newsprint. In his response, and an interesting one at that, he provides some hope for those print lovers and gives ideas for the aspiring journalist to ponder. Here is a quick snip-it…
“First, there is a diminishing supply of quality journalism, and a growing demand. By quality journalism I mean the kind that involves experienced reporters going places, bearing witness, digging into records, developing sources, checking and double-checking, backed by editors who try to enforce high standards. I mean journalism that, however imperfect, labors hard to be trustworthy, to supply you with the information you need to be an engaged citizen. The supply of this kind of journalism is declining because it is hard, expensive, sometimes dangerous work. The traditional practitioners of this craft — mainly newspapers — have been downsizing or declaring bankruptcy. The wonderful florescence of communication ignited by the Internet contains countless voices riffing on the journalism of others but not so many that do serious reporting of their own….
There is no end of faith-based polemics on the subject of newspapers’ survival. Print is dead! Online readers must pay for content! Online readers will never pay for content! Give newspapers endowments, like universities! We should be a little suspicious of ironclad certainty. The fact is, we don’t really know yet how the behavior of readers and advertisers will evolve. We don’t really know for sure how to separate the consequences of a calamitous economic crisis from the enduring changes in behavior provoked by new technologies. I think in the next year or two, we must examine all our options with an open mind, test those that are testable, and make some hard choices. My expectation (and I remind you of the disclaimers regarding my business acumen) is that for the foreseeable future our business will continue to be a mix of print and online journalism, with the growth online offsetting the (gradual, we hope) decline of print.”
I highly encourage you to read his entire response….let me know what you think!
Newspaper Source
Looking for current newspapers? Want to search across multiple newspapers and be sure they are authoritative?
Try out an easy search engine from the library called Newspaper Source (Ebsco). Newspaper Source provides cover-to-cover full text for 35 national & international newspapers. The database also contains selective full text for 375 regional (U.S.) newspapers. You can also fin images and full text TV & radio transcripts.
Communication Library Page Updated
I have recently updated the Communication Virtual Library. Here you can find help choosing resources for papers (news, scholarly articles, books). You can also chat with me, find my contact info, and many other helpful things!
Please check it out: http://info.lib.uh.edu/libraries/communications.html
Save it, bookmark it, add it to your Del.icio.us account. If you don’t know what Del.icio.us is, stayed tuned for my upcoming posts that will introduce you to new cool web tools.
Have a great Friday!
Student Paper Competition
The 37th Research Conference on Communication, Information, and Internet Policy:
Students can submit papers to the student paper competition and possibly receive up to a $1,000 reward.
Hosted by the Center for Technology and the Law George Mason University Law School
Arlington, Virginia. Friday, September 25, 2009 through Sunday, September 27, 2009
http://www.tprcweb.com/
Christina – Your Communication Librarian
I am your personal librarian for any questions, Communication, Journalism, Social Sciences, or whatever you need! I just began working at UH Libraries in January 2009. Prior to this, I was the Coordinator for Undergraduate Services at Texas A&M University Libraries from 2005-2009. I graduated from Texas A&M with a B.S. in 2003 and from the University of North Texas with a M.S. in Library Science in 2004.
I enjoy helping students in the library, my goal is to make your research projects as easy as possible! Thanks to Dr. Michael Berryhill, I got this blog rolling a lot faster than I otherwise would have, which is a good thing! I look forward to meeting more faculty and of course many many students semester after semester
My personal interests include sports and games, including running, tennis, taboo, and others! I travel to nature places with my husband whenever I can, mountain or beach, rain or shine. I spend time with my family often, and enjoy being in Houston near my close friends. I actually stay in touch more with friends now than ever because of that little addictive thing we all know as Facebook!
Please contact me, chgola@uh.edu!
Searching Content of Political Speech Videos
Google has developed new technology to help people search the content of political speeches. From the Google blog:
… With the help of our speech recognition technologies, videos from YouTube’s Politicians channels are automatically transcribed from speech to text and indexed. Using the gadget you can search not only the titles and descriptions of the videos, but also their spoken content. Additionally, since speech recognition tells us exactly when words are spoken in the video, you can jump right to the most relevant parts of the videos you find. …
This new search feature might be of interest to those in Rhetoric and Political Communication.
Doctor-Patient Communication Videos
VideoMD is a site on which visitors can view videos on different health topics that were uploaded by doctors:
VideoMD was created by physicians, for physicians and their patients. Our mission is to strengthen the relationship between doctors and their patients. Using contemporary technology to help physicians fully educate patients on their specific healthcare concerns, the bond between doctor and patient will be changed forever. … VideoMD proves that with modern video capabilities on the internet, combined with an array of searchable content features, video is the best resource to give patients information that they need in an easy and understandable format.
This site might be of interest to those studying Health Communication and Public Health.
Online Videos and Identities
A post on the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Wired Campus Blog (Anthropology professor, now a YouTube star, says Web video can help people craft their identities by Jeffrey R. Young) discusses the social impacts of online videos:
Michael Wesch, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, set out to study the culture of YouTube users, and he ended up becoming a video star in the process. He and his students have been lovingly documenting how people are using their Web cams to express themselves, and his short videos about the new ways the Web is connecting people have been viewed millions of times.
But when Mr. Wesch gave a talk at the Library of Congress on Monday, one audience member essentially asked: So what? Why should anyone care about a subculture of homemade video makers, or the fact that some people watch amusing clips on the Internet instead of looking at TV? “I don’t understand how this is going to impact my life,” said the questioner, who said she’s only ever watched one YouTube video.
“It will impact politics – it will impact who gets elected this year,” said Mr. Wesch. “And I think it can be argued that Obama would not have taken the election without social media. Clinton with her machine would have just ran right over him.”
The post has an accompanying video and has generated interesting comments.
Mike Wallace Interview Online
The School of Information at The University of Texas at Austin has made available a series of interviews conducted by Mike Wallace:
In the early 1960’s, broadcast journalist Mike Wallace donated 65 recorded interviews made in 1957-58 from his show “The Mike Wallace Interview” to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas. The bulk of these were 16mm kinescope film recordings, some of the earliest recordings of live television that were possible, and that survive today. Many of these have not been seen for over 50 years, and they represent a unique window into a turbulent time of American, and world history. From Senators to strippers, Ku Klux Klansmen to Nobel Prize winners, Mike Wallace has interviewed them all, and we invite you to view The Mike Wallace Interview.
Growing Traffic for Magazine Web Sites
A recent research study indicates that more people are drawn to magazine Web sites to view their contents. From the press release:
Consumer magazine websites averaged 70.7 million unique monthly visitors* during the first quarter of 2008, it was announced today by Nina Link, President and Chief Executive Officer, Magazine Publishers of America (MPA). That marks an 11.9% increase over the same period in 2007, when 63.2 million unique visitors logged onto magazine websites. This gain reflects more than three times the rate of growth for the overall U.S. Internet audience, which rose 3.7% in the first quarter. The information is based on a MPA analysis of Nielsen Online-supplied data from 337 consumer magazine brands online.
…
“Magazine brands online are getting ‘stickier’ with web audiences, as the latest data shows,” said Ms. Link. “Publishers are increasingly employing the latest digital innovations to broaden their reach and appeal to an audience that has a clear hunger for magazine online content and communities.”
