[LINK] Ffx: Still no bus model for quality jnalism

[Tom Worthington]

On 23/08/14 11:45, Roger Clarke quotes Kim Williams, Fairfax August 21,
2014:
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/kim-williams-calls-news-corp-leaks-a-festival-of-vengeance-20140821-106r64.html

> In my forthcoming book, Rules of Engagement ...

Now there is the indicator of quality journalism: include a plug for
your own book.

> ... as a result of digital technology many of the old paradigms and
> power constructs are breaking down or are already broken ...

It is good this paper book is being published, so we can learn how
digital technology has made paper publishing obsolete.

> ... Merit, ingenuity, speed, flexibility and performance increasingly
> now rule the day in the media. ...

It is good we will have this book only a few decades after the 
development of the Internet, to tell us about the speed of electronic 
publishing.

> ... entirely new ways of working and connecting ...

Yes, having this book printed on paper and delivered by truck to 
book-stores is an excellent example of entirely new ways of connecting.

> .... a well developed sustainable model for commercial delivery of
> serious independent journalism ... is yet to emerge in the digital
> sphere ...

It is good to learn that all those online publications I have been 
reading for the last couple of decades are unsustainable.

> In the interim media companies must extract every ounce of value
> from fine print products, but the writing is on the wall. ...

Yes, using fine print on a wall poster is very sustainable.

> One thing is abundantly clear, we are now living through the largest
> single transfer of power in human history ...

Yes, the fall of the Roman empire and collapse of the Soviet Union were
trivial compared to who gets to select the page-three girls for tabloid
newspapers.

> How Australia responds will define our modern nation - the challenge
> of innovation is at the core. ...

Yes, the mining and agriculture industries are trivial compared to the
vast profits News Corp's "The Australian" newspaper has earned for 
Australia.

> This is the largest citizen empowerment change seen in history ...

Yes, the rise of Christianity, Islam and the overthrow of several 
dictators are trivial compared to who owns newspapers.

> Kim Williams, former chief executive of News Corp ...

It is unfortunate that the Internet did not exist while Mr. Williams was 
at News Corp, or he could have used it to revolutionise the company.

> Rules of Engagement (MUP), published next week.

What an original title. Trove lists only 732 books with "Rules of 
Engagement" in the title and 10,000 articles. I am sure the content of 
the book is equally original:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/result?q=+%22Rules+of+Engagement%22

;-)


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
The Higher Education Whisperer http://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/
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Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/