At yesterday’s Guardian meetings (blogged below), editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger said, “Everybody now gets it.”
A few days ago, a blogger (whose link I can’t find now) took me to task for saying that mainstream media people “don’t get it.”
Does everybody get it now? Well, I’m not sure. But I do think it’s time to give up accusations of not getting it. I’ll plead guilty to using the phrase too often. And I’ll admit that it was pretty self-important. So I’ll try to get rid of not getting it. That won’t be easy; I have to confess that as I read some news stories about the news business in the last 36 hours, the phrase came to mind two or three times. I bit my tongue.
I think that – especially after the last year’s cold reality checks and volcanic change in the newspaper, radio, TV, and magazine businesses – everybody does get that the past cannot be preserved. Everybody knows now that change is inevitable. And everybody – which includes me – is searching for the right moves to make next. Is everybody innovating enough, fast enough? No, but I think everybody realizes they have to.
Got that?
Uh, got it. (I think.)
I am the mystery blogger to whom you refer. What I was objecting to is that the “doesn’t get it” lumping and labeling gets slung around rather loosely these days. If we were discussing sports, that’d be fine (Duke fans clearly don’t get it). But we’re discussing industry- and career-threatening stuff and “doesn’t get it” is not a good label to get stuck with.
Last week a colleague and I argued about how to proceed with a website. One of us wanted to start running more video. The other said that would be grand but it wouldn’t get us to our immediate page view goals. Does one of us not get that it’s a multimedia world? Does the other not get the current imperative to serve banners and make a profit? No, it’s just an argument about priorities. As you say, a search for the right move to make next. I like your conclusion in this post.
[...] about his views, but he does put in some strong words about the death of Old Media, as he did in his latest post: I think that – especially after the last year’s cold reality checks and volcanic change in the [...]
Essjay got it.
[...] BuzzMachine: Not not getting it Jeff Jarvis: “I do think it’s time to give up accusations of not getting it. I’ll plead guilty to using the phrase too often. And I’ll admit that it was pretty self-important. So I’ll try to get rid of not getting it.” (tags: online journalism guardian bloggers blogging msm) [...]
I wonder if the World Wars of the last century had not happened … where the population exponential would be today.
Population growth drives economies … and global climate change is making population out the villan.
Is that a “gets it” point or are we just talking about newsies survival?
[...] Jeff Jarvis says that, even if everybody doesn’t “get it”* (which the Guardian’s Alan Rusbridger thinks they do): everybody realizes they have to [innovate]. [...]
Maybe saying someone “gets it” or “doesn’t get it” is self-important, but I find it helpful and direct. When I hear it in conversation, or read it on someone’s blog, I immediately have a better sense of that person or company and where they are in their understanding of new media– assuming I trust my source.
Everybody gets that they need to “get it”. That’s huge.
And the amount of folks that get it is on the rise. These are good signs!
I have to say that “get it” versus “not getting it” pretty much sums up my experience of introducing people to this whole social media thing. Whether using the term “get it” is a self important / too pejorative – maybe. Perhaps it would be kinder to say “on board” and “not on board”. Maybe we (Jeff) could revive Tom Wolfe’s description of Ken Kesey’s group of Merry Pranksters from the 1960s – that of being literally and metaphorically “on the bus”.
: – ) remember … “Baby on Board” … so don’t rear end me