Friday, June 16, 2006

It's a blog... no, it's a talk show... no, it's a readers forum... What's next in online news? PostGlobal, a new offering from http://WashingtonPost.com "will unite eminent journalists and thinkers from around the world in an ongoing online discussion about the impact of politics, economics, policy and culture on international relations," according to Editor & Publisher. The Post's David Ignatius and Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria will be the host pundits, asking a question for "panelists" and the audience in general to answer. More than 30 countries are on the panel, including "some of the best-known writers, commentators, and editors on the planet," E&P said.  Ignatius's first comment, on the Post home page today, was headed "Bravo to Readers": "I have just read through the thread comments posted to our initial discussion of whether a future Iran could be stabilizing. It's a terrific debate, without the nastiness often found on the Web. My count shows that readers who posted are much more hopeful than our panel of commentators that a future Iran could in fact be stabilizing, with a roughly 60/40 tilt in that direction." Today's question was "Should the U.S. and other countries send representatives to the G-8 counter-summit?" I wonder what a Tennessee counterpart to this kind of discussion would look like. What would the issues be? Who would be good panelists? And would readers read and comment? Meanwhile back in Knoxville, News Sentinel editor Jack McElroy relays less than encouraging readership news. His source is online publishing consultant Vin Crosbie, whose DigitalDeliverance blog reports a batch of statistics under the headline, "Newspaper Websites' Average User Aging as Quickly as Print Readers." According to a research firm Crosbie talked to, newspaper websites are losing users between the ages of 25 to 44 and gaining those who are over 55. There's still a significant difference: The average online newspaper reader is 42, while the average print reader is 55. But for newspaper publishers, Crosbie's interpretation is that the strategy of going online to attract younger readers hasn't been successful. Comparable demographics for television news and non-newspaper news sites like Yahoo and Google News aren't mentioned in Crosbie's report. If those audiences don't show a big difference, I'd suggest picking up David T. Z. Mindich's book, Tuned Out: Why Americans Under 40 Don't Follow the News. I agree with him that some of the solution has to be in the classroom, not the newsroom. I think "journalism education" shouldn't just mean "teaching some of our university students to do journalism." It should include teaching many more students -- business students, music students, science students -- to value and use journalism. Whether they do a little of it themselves, they should demand that it be done well... by newspapers, broadcasters, bloggers, magazines or whatever converged 21st century couranteers spring out of the post-Web generation. ("Couranteer" is an swashbuckling old word for "journalist." I like it. Maybe I'll do something with it.) 9:21:18 PM

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