Sigh. I just made the comment that blogs handled tech news and stories a lot better than newspapers (at least, IMHO) and my journalist friend said that they couldn't compete with respected, credentialed news organizations. I made the mistake of saying, "it's that type of thinking that is killing newspapers." I've been served.
- Shawn Farner
Many newspapers suffer from too little revenue and too much debt. Blogs have nothing to do with that.
- Tom Landini
Shawn: It's not that blogs handle tech news better than newspapers -- it's that many blogs cover subjects that newspapers simply don't care about, and in some cases, shouldn't. And they do it in an entertaining manner that gets eyeballs. As a journalist who covers the technology industry and government, I find the fact that TechCrunch is what passes for journalism these days shameful. On the other hand, sites that do original reporting and have standards (AllThingsD and GigaOm) fall into the category of "blogs" also. But once you get outside of Silicon Valley, it's quite hard to find very many online-only pubs that do good work because, sadly, many have the misguided idea that if you're a "blog" you don't have to source, research or edit. It's not Newspapers vs. Blogs, it's Crap versus Not Crap.
- Andrew Feinberg
Andrew - Thank you. Awesome answer.
- Shawn Farner
Having very elderly parents who live by their newspaper and never heard of a blog....no. Maybe in 30 years the newspaper will be history but too many elderly with no tech skills will keep them afloat for now.
- Janet-Tie-D