The New York Times’ wrap up of the year’s obituaries may give us an idea of one of the many futures for journalism.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that obituaries are just dry recantations of the lives of dead white men and they often are – particularly when about celebrities or undistinguished politicians and businessmen.
Good obituaries though are masterpieces and those of society’s genuine unsung heroes are moving and educational. A well written obit of an obscure but deserving person is usually a rewarding read.
As part of the their summation of 2012, The New York Times has taken their obituaries one step further by asking readers to submit photos and stories of their loved ones who’ve passed away during the year.
The Lives They Loved is the result, a wonderful collection of touching photographs and stories of parents, partners, children and friends who have passed away in the last year.
User Generated Content – UGC – is one of the foundation stones of new media. The idea is the audience themselves provide the content which frees services like Facebook, YouTube or I Can Haz Cheeseburger from the costs and irritations of actually creating things that people are interested in.
The New York Times project may well show that traditional news channels with their dedicated audiences and relevance to communities may do UGC as well as any hot new Silicon Valley startup.
While User Generated Content isn’t the future of journalism, it almost certainly will be one of the them. Whether it turns out that old media use it better than the newer upstarts remains to be seen.
Watching the world from one’s desk is seductive, but cost cutting has reduced journalists to copying and pasting rather than research. John Pilger is not a journalist I’m always in agreement with, but I concur with his point that journalists are very good at holding a mirror up at the world, but not at themselves. But then the public are merely that; the stupid to progressive thinkers like thyself.
I totally agree Catherine, how I see it is that we’re in a transition phase where we’re trying to figure out new business models and what the role of professional journalists is in a world where the barriers to entry are very low.
This is made worse by the cult of 1980s managerialism where creators of value – be they factory workers, tradesman, shop assistants or journalists – are looked at by the managerial classes as being, at best, a cost to the organisation.
Over time this will resolve itself as the incumbent businesses either shed their top heavy managements or fade away (it will probably be the latter in Australia) and new, smarter operators take their place.
At one level, this is dispiriting but at another it’s an exciting time of opportunity if you’re prepared to think differently to today’s staid business and political leaders who are locked in the certainties of the 1980s.
I read the stub of this on email while bobbing around in a minimal reception area and assumed that you’d taken the theme and written an obituary for the traditional print media.
In which case you’d have been about 6 months premature in the case of any titles behind the Fairfax paywall.
You’re a hard man, TNA. I have a horrible feeling you’re right about Fairfax. I’m thinking it might be worth letting Gina Rinehart and her cronies loose on the company as things surely can’t get any worse there.
While you’re bobbing around the boat, have a read of the “bumper” AFR Christmas edition. The travel
advertorialsarticles are just cringe making. Fairfax really does need to get rid of its managers and hire some editors who give a damn.Cheers, I’ll take that as advice not to read it. Actually, I rarely pick up a copy of the AFR and never look at it online (note: I’ve never bought a copy, just skim read in reception areas). Mainly I fine more accurate information for free on the Internet and the opinion pieces don’t compare at all favourably to the blogosphere as they are too constrained by self-censorship to placate the advertising revenue stream.