‘The time for evangelism is past’
At the world Editors Forum in South Africa, Jon Landman says the problem in newspapers is no longer resistance — “the time for evangelism is past” — but instead now managing: resources, media choices, and such. He says the best thing to do is to put it in the hands of those who know best, the section editors [read: the print newsroom wins] while it’s the job of top management to handle the conflict between print and online cultures.
I’d say we haven’t arrived until we have a news culture, not cultures tied to media products. Can the current generation do that? Will it fall to the next generation? Is there anywhere near enough time to wait for that? Sounds to me as if there is still a need for evangelism and training.
: Landman also talks about the new CityRoom project at the Times here.
Tags: journalism, newsinnovation, newspapers
June 6th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
News culture - I like that. When I got into this industry, many people were still fond of saying they had “ink in their veins”. Maybe most of them have expanded their vision, but the current state of the average newspaper website certainly doesn’t suggest as much.
There is a certain parallel between people who ascribed treason to Iraq war opposers and people who ascribed treason to online evangelists. I think the former are more likely to apologize one day than the latter.
That line about middle management is hilarious. If only everyone else in the business had gotten out of the section editors’ way 10 years ago, just think where we would all be now.