Clay Shirky on Newspapers
Excellent summary of where we find the newspaper business today:
Round and round this goes, with the people committed to saving newspapers demanding to know “If the old model is broken, what will work in its place?†To which the answer is: Nothing. Nothing will work. There is no general model for newspapers to replace the one the internet just broke.
Oops 3/16/09. “Shirky,” not Sharky.
Steve Laniel Mar 15
You might have seen this article. It’s in the same area of the discourse, if not exactly a response to Shirky.
http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/2009/03/the-following-is-a-speech-i-gave-yesterday-at-the-south-by-southwest-interactive-festival-in-austiniif-you-happened-to-being.html
Kevin Mark Mar 16
s/Sharky/Shirky/ so that future searches work
Herb Kessel Mar 22
Very insightful article. As an economist, I’m reminded once again about the power of markets, based upon new technologies, to erode concentrations of market power. We’ve seen the same thing in industry after industry. A few other examples: the development of satellite and microwave communications eroding one of the most prevalent monopolies of all time, ATT; U.S, Steel company, now US X, loss of market share with the growth of mini mills and the oxygen furnace; cable TV growth at the expense of the networks with its fiber optics networks. This becomes important in today’s environment with the gov’t bent on bailing out company after company or industry after industry (some think the newspaper industry should be bailed out). People blame the markets for our problem, but markets have never worked well without proper regulation, and this is something we have lacked for many years.