Innovation is Dead

“ The internet may kill newspapers; but it is not clear if that matters. For society, what matters is that people should have access to news, not that it should be delivered through any particular medium; and, for the consumer, the faster it travels, the better. The telegraph hastened the speed at which news was disseminated. So does the internet. Those in the news business use the new technology at every stage of newsgathering and distribution. A move to electronic distribution—through PCs, mobile phones and e-readers—has started. It seems likely only to accelerate. ”

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The Economist: “Newspapers and technology: Network effects” Dec 17th, 2009

Interesting article overall. But the quotation above is problematic, for it could be argued that a change of medium would result in a change of message (right Marshall?). The anticipated disappearance of traditional newspapers should be studied (before being condemned or celebrated) as a global change in the means we use to shape our experience of the world and, thus, in the world itself. The news won’t be the same. Our experience of the news will change.

(via skandalon)