Tablets won't save news

Well having a Kindle i must say i'm shocked to see our local newspapers not using the opportunity. Our resident Naspers/Media24 seems to be fast asleep while i have to read UK and USA local papers . I'm quite happy and eager to pay for a subscription to a LOCAL newspaper. Heck just scanning the newspapers available on Amazon , i see stuff from the Middle East and South America...... fast asleep i tell you.

..you'd think a company owning Mweb and pushing a larger media agenda would be a bit more on the ball than this....
 
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diabolus said:
Well having a Kindle i must say i'm shocked to see our local newspapers not using the opportunity. Our resident Naspers/Media24 seems to be fast asleep while i have to read UK and USA local papers . I'm quite happy and eager to pay for a subscription to a LOCAL newspaper. Heck just scanning the newspapers available on Amazon , i see stuff from the Middle East and South America...... fast asleep i tell you.
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Knowing how South African businesses think, I wouldn't be surprised if they're busy re-inventing the wheel - watch them try to roll out their own DRM format
 
I have to say good article. I think the next billionaire will be the guy or company that solves this questions posted in the article.
 
Would've have thought that news agencies need to find innovative ideas to promote their "wares" and push boundaries once in a while to keep their revenues incoming.
 
I've got a few hints for them:
Please do something more than copy and paste raw articles from the wire services. Those same words are available everywhere. I prefer to get them directly from the wires without giving your incompetent staff an opportunity to wreck them.
Please stop hiring people with humanities degrees, they are not educated to the level to be capable of communicating with me. Hire engineers, mathematicians, social scientists, economists etc. They may not be able to debate Faust with you, an editor, but they will be capable of understanding more than nothing about the article they are writing.
You do not need to cover the Soccer World Cup, your perspective is not that unique. I know how you love your comps but they are one of the reasons you are struggling.
I don't actually care if you are the first, I care if you are accurate and insightful.
As a journalism organisation, if a peer is a source then, you are not covering the story, or breaking news but rather reproducing someone else's story.
Please and I beg you, edit your work. The Saturday Star published the number '400 00' instead of '40 000' in the main headline on the front page earlier this year. I have not bought that paper since I put it back down on the rack in the supermarket that morning. It is so offensive to have to tolerate incompetence in literacy from professionally literates. In my field of work that sort of technical incompetence is not tolerated.
 
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I half agree with the article. I don't think the old, massive news corporations need to do anything other than to dwindle and eventually die out. It's not that they've failed at anything. Technology has simply made them less relevant. By making global communication more accessible and empowering independent individuals, there's simply less for them to do. Call it evolution of society.
 
Most people get their news from the radio and Twitter. Online news is also laced with errors. One thing about newspapers you don't get the stupid comments at the end of the article.
 
Aragon said:
I half agree with the article. I don't think the old, massive news corporations need to do anything other than to dwindle and eventually die out. It's not that they've failed at anything. Technology has simply made them less relevant. By making global communication more accessible and empowering independent individuals, there's simply less for them to do. Call it evolution of society.
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I agree to a certain extent. Traditional print is SLOWLY dying in South Africa and we shouldn't rule it out completely. Majority of our population simply cannot afford smartphones or iPads. Particularly within the rural areas where print is more accessible than technologies.
Media houses have certainly not failed but they will surely need to embrace new technologies and new media. If not, they will be left behind. New business models will need to be created or traditional models will need to be manipulated to cater the digital age.
It is all up to the consumer in how they distribute information to them as essentially the information is for the end-user anyways. Society is definitely "evolving" and companies need to cater for this.
My issue is that with regards to content, as Web 2.0 is in growth stage and reaching maturity, how credible is the information we see on Twitter or Facebook? Social networks, blogging etc. puts the power in the "end-user". Are we then the new journalists and providing information? I wouldn't like to think so, since I appreciate journalists to teach us and make us learn about news, communities etc.
At the end of the day, IMO, it is definitely the content that is made available that matters. How you go about doing it depends on how communities are evolving. Find niche markets that adopt technologies and distribute your information this way. Find niche markets that read print and distribute your information this way. As long as the content is there and relevant.
 
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