The Future is on the Computer

"If newspapers went dead for a week, radio, television newscasters and bloggers would have nothing to talk about" (loosely quoted from the film, Stop the Presses)
I love this quote because it really brings one to ponder and realize the magnitude of service that print journalists give to America and even the world. I do agree that the nation be drastically information deprived if we lost print journalists. However, I agree with John Carey and Nancy Hicks Maynard that the news businesses many are so familiar with, is "tuned to earlier lifestyles" (The Press).
So the industry has to change the way they deliver the news. I predict (and it is happening as I blog) that the reading news will be a much more social engagement. Through FacebookConnect and sites modeled after NewsMixer, we will be able to converse about news with loved ones, associates and friends, both near and far instantaneously. Word of mouth drives audiences, therefore this social integration of FacebookConnect-like tools will be crucial to newsrooms. I think throughout the next fifteen years newspapers across the board are going to be pouring the majority of their resources to building and experimenting with their online sites.



I don't know how journalists will be payed in the future. I think there will be less well-payed journalists but there will be a smaller group of extremely well paid online journalists. Maybe this online subscription based version of newspapers is the future of news (The New York Times Reader 2.0 featured above). Come what may, I hope journalists will be at forefront of new technology, being the first to weave it into their line of work.