The end of print web

So let’s have a chat about blogs and newspapers.

Seattle is home to many a newspaper, now one less with the passing of Seattle Post-Intelligencer in print format, two of which are free weekly publications: Seattle Weekly and The Stranger. In order to maintain reader interest beyond a laissez-faire interest, both weekly publications have online blogs that track daily life in Seattle, as well as nationally and globally. Both publications are known for their reporting and commentary that often cross acerbic and sardonic lines. As such, each publication attracts a certain kind of reader that associates with its personality.

Commenters often provide observations and opinions in tones that similarly match the authors’ and publication’s point of view. Community is naturally formed as a result of the bonds established between the producers and receivers—it’s also not unlikely for commenters to build/form alliances with each other.

The investment made by the community yields ownership of the site. If an outsider attacks the site’s authors and/or opinions, the community responds on behalf of the site and counter-attacks the outsider. The community’s investment has been called into question, therefore their sense of judgment is held suspect.

Erica C Barnett is a staff member at The Stranger who reports on local politics and politicians. Her tone and political bent are quite liberal which nicely coincides with the overall liberal positioning of The Stranger. In past articles, Erica often called into question the ethics and mores of politicians, local journalists, and leaders of various communities. The online community of The Stranger would often debate and argue Erica’s writing, but the allegiance to the website guaranteed ample sheltering from outsiders vehemently opposed to the opinions held by Erica and The Stranger.

On January 28, Seattle Police received a shoplifting call from a Seattle grocery store; Erica was accused of attempting to steal a $8.99 bottle of wine. This news item was discovered by a staff member / blogger at another local newspaper, this in and of itself is suspect for how this information was obtained.

The Stranger officially said nothing nor acknowledged the actions of Erica until March, and only after a shift was felt in the online community. Comments about Erica’s shoplifting were heavily dropped on almost every post published on the blog of The Stranger (also known as SLOG), perceived by SLOG’s community as outside commentors acting as “trolls”. The trolls attacked, the community counter-attacked, thus a visible tension was born within the comments of posts and created the shift.

When I was growing up, journalism was often regarded as a medium to report daily events in a fair and balanced manner. I’ve since learned that, throughout history, the media will always have a personal bias and can be molded to produce desired results of politicians and larger companies.

Newspapers have a political bent. To believe the statement is anything but true is the reader’s naïveté. Newspapers which print letters to the editor provided a forum for their readers to respond to the printed material. The readers were invested and a community was in existence.

Then, something miraculous occurred. Newspapers went online and allowed commenting similar to blogs. Suddenly, the once-anonymous readers of newspapers became aware of each other. Online communities grew, ever-ready to interact with those that shared their beliefs and opinions.

This is how print realized its obsolescence: it could not, and cannot, provide instant gratification for its readers. Where print can select and print those conversations that were deemed appropriate, online media allowed anything to be written, read, and responded to almost instantaneous.

Blogs also possess an advantage that media cannot match: without a corporate or political presence to influence what is said, freedom of information exists. And this freedom is terrifying to corporations and politicians for it cannot be controlled. For example, General Electric owns NBC, so can we – the general public – trust the broadcasting corporation to fairly, accurately report the environmental damage caused by GE with its manufacturing?

What the die-hard community of The Stranger failed to realize was that the trolls had a point to make. A community is only invested as long as its trust isn’t perverted. How could the community trust Erica’s reporting when she lacked the necessary ethics she often called out in others? And with The Stranger not asking for Erica’s resignation, is the community to believe the newspaper condones her actions?

Designers view the web and print with one word: forgiving. If a designer makes a mistake with online media, it only takes seconds to correct the offense and upload the new, corrected presentation. If a designer makes a mistake in print, the damage is done. At best, newspapers can print a column apologizing for errors and hope for the best.

Proofreading and fact-checking are critical to printed media come press-time. In essence, people must slow down and carefully look at information that may or may not result in professional embarrassment and printed corrections. Restore confidence in people that print will take the time to correctly and accurately report the news, and the public will give its invested time and trust in return. Speaking for myself, I am far less likely to trust news and articles written in The Stranger because of Erica’s personal actions and how her employer chose to rally behind her instead of asking for her resignation. I can still read about local news and events from other printed & online sources in Seattle, as well as connecting with their communities.

Jacek Utko recently posed the question “Can design save print?” In countries such as Poland and Bulgaria, the answer was Yes. But in the U.S., the answer is Not By Itself. Teens and young adults are not the only users of blogs and online communities: we have their parents and grandparents using facebook to connect with friends and YouTube to tell their stories. People have their communities to interact with others, at almost instant timing, and that’s something the printed word cannot provide or compete with.

So why even continue with the printed format of news? Because it’s a social medium that is meant to be shared. People buy a paper at a café and leave the pages behind for other patrons to read and enjoy. Couples read and share articles of interest over activities. Images can be printed with amazing color and clarity, the power of words can move people to tears. Newspapers such as Real Change allow the homeless to have a voice, as well as a way to empower individuals and keep them from total poverty. Local businesses can introduce themselves to a larger audience and offer readers a chance to learn more about their services, rather than trying to compete online with keywords and tens of local online directories.

In eighth grade I wanted to learn more about Taoism and came across this often-told story:

Once, a Taoist master sat with his diciples at the edge of a large, raging river. Suddenly, one of the diciples stood up and shouted that an elderly man had been caught in the river. Helpless, the party watched as the man tumbled over rocks, was dunked under water, and thrown about by the current. Assuming that he had been killed, they were astonished to see the old man climb out of the river, completely unharmed. Surprised. the master walked up to the man, and said:

“You have survived a very treacherous peril. You must be some sort of spirit!”

The old man simply laughed a kind laugh and replied:

“No, no. I’ve been doing that since I was a boy. I simply let the river take me. I don’t struggle, I don’t thrash about. I simply place myself in the river’s care, and the river takes care of me.”

We need to turn off the web if we want newspapers to survive. Cafés across America should cancel their internet access. Encourage patrons to come inside, order a cuppa, eat a bite, and read a newspaper or book. Leave the WiFi spots to McDonalds. If people need to leave their homes and use their laptops, places like Giraffe Labs and Office Nomads in Seattle offer environments for people to share office spaces for not a lot of money (or resembling a FedEx Kinko’s). If where you live doesn’t offer a co-working environment, then start one.

Newspapers, much like the automotive industry, need to do their part in order to survive. Start with recycling newspapers and printing with recycled paper. Work with low-income and near-homeless individuals: they buy the newspapers at $0.25 then sell them to the public at $1. Be willing to report the truth, even if that means rapping the wrists of staff members and corporate powers-that-be. If a staff member acts in an irresponsible, unethical or immoral manner, do not offer the head of said staff member to the public as a panacea; do the right thing by your readers and send the person packing and leave it at that. Stop blogging. Don’t try to compete with online media or social communities, they quickly fall in and out of favor with the public.

Newspapers have acquired a nasty habit picked up by blogs: write for the sake of quantity and not quality. It’s time for print to focus on the latter.