Faith Popcorn, eat your heart out! Pg. 2

My second prognostication on what the internet could become, hopefully will become was posted in 1999 in reply to a post by a usenet friend in a journalism-oriented newsgroup. He was having a pity party over the demise of the economy and wondering about his future:

Google Groups hyperlink

From: Publis...@6th.Estate.com (Mark W. McBride, President/CEO)
Subject: Re: Between Economises - A tale Most Micawber
Date: 1999/02/09
Message-ID: <36c08d43.173608203@news.atl.bellsouth.net>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 442534138
References: <36bc611b.155567735@news.skypoint.com>
Organization: SPCS, Inc./Technology Bridge Publishing
Reply-To: Publis...@6th.Estate.com Remove the dot after 6th to reply directly.
NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 15:32:33 EST
Newsgroups: alt.journalism.print,alt.journalism.newspapers,alt.journalism.freelance

Did you hear the news? On Sat, 06 Feb 1999 15:35:11 GMT, in <36bc611b.155567...@news.skypoint.com>, our ether buddy mfinleyO...@skypoint.com (Michael Finley) spaketh thusly:

:)Micawber was a symptom of one of Victorian England's great problems -
:)the emptying of the British countrysides, and the ensuing inability of
:)the city to accommodate the influx.
:)
:)A similar dynamic has overtaken writers. Only, instead of a transition
:)from agrarian to industrial living, we are experiencing a transition
:)from industrial to post-industrial living.
:)
:)And like Micawber, we are caught between one economy that only has gas
:)enough for the entrenched establishment, and a new economy whose shape
:)is not yet clear to us - and whose opportunities are not easy to
:)grasp.
:)
:)I'm 47, and I spent most of my career in print journalism, as a
:)newspaper editor and writer. When I saw the first signs of the new
:)economy in 1983, I began to specialize in computers and business.
:)
:)By the time the Internet blossomed, print publishing was already in
:)deep trouble from broadcast competitors able to get info to people
:)faster and flashier. When online competitors came along who were able
:)to get info out even faster, even flashier, and at a fraction of the
:)cost, print publishers knew the jig was up.
:)
:)Print is slowly dying. But its alternative, the world of online
:)publishing, is still in the gelatinous stage. Big print syndicates and
:)online entities like MSNBC and Nando Times rely on reprints from their
:)print staff, wire services, or affiliates.

I have two words of precious wisdom to impart to you: "Media Fusion."

I'll repeat myself just to ensure it sinks in: "Media Fusion."

I should charge for that. What you are witnessing is the move to that fusion, what I see as the painful birth of the 6th Estate. And because that fusion is occuring, there will be more jobs for freelancers and fulltimers than ever. And not just writers ... but ENG operators, editors, producers, designers, video production personnel, etc.

The availability of more and more bandwidth creates opportunities. Something has to be created to fill that void. The advent of the internet and the increasing transmission speeds will allow newspapers to offer streaming video and audio to compete with their broadcast competition. In like fashion, the internet allows broadcasters to offer the in-depth and wider coverage newspapers offer that time schedules previously would not allow for a broadcast station. Broadcasters will have to hire print people and newspapers will have to hire ENG operators. Moreover, e-book standards will allow everyone to have a library of all this information on CD.

Newspapers and broadcasters no longer will be able to rely on rip and read from one to three wire services, or rewrites of press releases if they want to stay viable. Every other newspaper carries those wire services, and they all get PR Newswire and Business Wire. If the AP rewrite of the press release contains less information than the press release, why should I read the AP version when I can access the press release online? Even more pertinent, why should I read some newspaper's/broadcaster's trimmed version of the AP press release rewrite?

These online newspapers and broadcasters will have to differentiate themselves - and that means more local coverage, more specialized coverage and less reliance on wire or press release copy.

This is still a bit away. Keep track of Internet2 and the companies developing methods and technologies to increase transmission speed. If you want to fill your ricebowl immediately, supplement your columns with web page design. Writers are word crafters. And well crafted words can sell product ... and put food on the table while you're waiting for the blast-off. If you believe in the product enough to buy it, why not use your talents to help the company promote it? Had I the talent then that I have now, Quake, Almond Delight and Quaker Shredded Wheat cereals would still be on store shelves. ;)

If you don't want to write copy for a local business' web site, consider a newsletter. Back in 1987, while in graduate school, I developed a business plan for a newsletter. The cost of printing, list rental and mailing made this plan prohibitive without a backer (I was a destitute grad student). I didn't find a backer, so the plan never made it off the ground. But these costs now are minimal because of the internet and because of SIC/NAIC coded address list CDs like ProPhone (not sure what the name is now -- the company sold off to DeLorme). Newsletters contain highly specialized information for a highly specialized audience - 100 to 5,000 subscribers - who pay higher subscription rates. Check the books in the library by Hudson on newsletter development.

Just some hints. Good luck! And enjoy the future. It hasn't been this good for writers or video types since the advent of moveable type or the cathode ray tube.

Best, Mac

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2/24/2005 -- UPDATE -- The New York Times writes about how bloggers are adding video to their sites. Nice to see the NYT on top of things.