MEDIA MATTERS: How Not to Use the Internet
I go to the site of the California First Amendment Coalition, to which I’ve belonged forever, to learn about the latest threats to press access and press freedom.The coalition should stick to First Amendment issues.Instead, the group’s executive director, Peter Scheer, decided to wander a bit and write about the online threat to newspapers. His ideas are so outlandish that I had to read his piece twice. In fact, I read it a third time when the San Francisco Chronicle ran it as an op-ed column.
Scheer argues that newspapers should—my words—pretend that the Internet isn’t there:
“Newspapers and wire services need to figure out a way, without running afoul of antitrust laws, to agree to embargo their news content from the free Internet for a brief period—say, 24 hours—after it is made available to paying customers. The point is not to remove content from the Internet, but to delay its free release in that venue.”
Journalist and Internet entrepreneur Mark Potts calls that “the dumbest idea I’ve seen in a long time.” Just an Online Minute is calmer but on target: “…any plan that relies on embargoing free content seems more likely to hurt newspapers’ growth than help.” A response on that blog sums up my view: “Cutting edge thinking…in 1996!”
Just a few thoughts:
1. Alas, neither newspapers nor the Internet are the only source of news. For starters, TV and radio are in the mix. What good would a 24-hour embargo do when you can flip on your car radio for news?
2. Instant postings on the Internet—when someone isn’t asleep at the switch—solidify my view of news organizations. One of these days, those organizations will figure out how to monetize my respect.
3. Isn’t 24-hour-old news a big part of what got newspapers into their dilemma?
The more I think about it, the more Potts’ harsh description seems appropriate.
One can’t pretend that the internet isn’t there — but might there not be a way to keep it at arm’s length? An embargo can be applied not merely in ‘time’, but also in ’space’ (which is the more traditional method.)
Perhaps Einstein’s concept of a time-space continuum might contain some clues to how such an arm’s length separation could be accomplished.
T Heller said this on November 15th, 2006 at 5:04 pm