The deadline is dead

I've been corresponding with Linda Jones, the journalist and blogger behind an opinion column in this week's Press Gazette. Linda comments here now and then, Hi Linda :) I don't quite agree with her stance in the column. Actually, that's a lie - I don't agree with it at all. But, rather than go into the details of our amiable email chitter-chatter, I'll quote this single bit from me:

And as for "the deadline" Forget it, it's exactly what it says it is, dead. Instant publishing will crush the notion of the newspaper deadline within one year. And those newspapers that don't understand why that is so, will die a year after. But, that's a topic for another day...

Or, as it happens, not another day, but today. Blog uber-god Jeff Jarvis, a man I once interviewed over the net and met briefly on Regent Street a few months back, chimes in,

It’d [be] ironic, or possibly just odd, that one of the newest papers in Britain, The Independent, is the most stuck in the mud online. They put  up pay walls and the editor, Simon Kelner, just decreed that he’d never put stories on the web first, like his competitor, The Guardian, and that he wants to raise the price of the declining print product... Roy Greenslade sits Kelner down for a talkin’-to

Technorati Tags: deadline, newspapers, online first

Comments

[LindaLinda]

Hi Graham,

I'd love to know where all this 'instant reporting' is happening, I really would.

Just because "news" can be reported instantly on the web doesn't really mean the deadline is dead, yet, does it? Or that it will be in a year.

Most of what I've seen "reported" on blogs is comment rather than news isn't it? If the blog belongs to a journalist, aren't they mainly including links to work published elsewhere or offering their opinion on something they've read?

Here are three news items I've accessed via blogs:

1. George Michael is touring soon. (Was pleased about that!)
2. Progress of Scooptwords
3. Publication of the controversial 'Diana dying' pic.

All of these posts could be described, having read their content as comment/opinion rather than reporting, couldn't they? And I'd say that only the middle one was a genuine, cough, blog 'scoop'.

I'd love to read the news that's breaking on blogs. Tell me where to look and let me at 'em!
Linda

[Craig McGinty]

I can think of two instances where blogs and related media have been used to follow a story in a 'fluid' way.

The first would be Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans, where residents wrote graphically of what was happening in the city as the storm approached. The local newspaper was forced to use a blog format to cover events after the storm.

The other place is Flickr where you can often follow stories within minutes, if not a little longer. A good example is the riots in Paris this spring over employment contracts, please see:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/riot/clusters/france-paris-cpe/

I've always thought deadlines in the online world don't really exist as there is no print-run to keep to, once it's written and checked get it up.

[Linda]

A blog that I like to read is Rachel from North London http://rachelnorthlondon.blogspot.com/ which grew out of an original blog in the wake of the London bombs, didn't it?

[Graham]

Linda, there are tonnes breaking news... where to start... Hate to say it, but do your homework...

Raft Ali at Paidcontent breaks news hourly. Can you really call paidcontent a blog anymore? He just got a million or more investment.

http://paidcontent.org/

Healing Iraq - the only guy reporting from Adamhiyaon a battle ignored/unknown by western media.

http://healingiraq.blogspot.com/archives/2006_04_01_healingiraq_archive.html

And Zeyad the blogger behind is so into it he's ditching dentistry to go to journalism school - not that he needs it...

Adrants often gets the scoop on advertising moves before the MSM.

http://adrants.com/

Look to bloggers in Beirut:

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/internet/0,71421-0.html?tw=wn_index_2

I could go on, that's just off the top of my head. There are plenty people out there observing, reporting - yes, REALLY reporting, may not be conventional, but that's often the very strength of a blog.

Plus, in many cases it's the bloggers who are being given the scoops from contacts. Look at Guido,

http://5thnovember.blogspot.com/

H'es totally built his rep. on insider scoops leaked to him.

Also, my point about 'instant publishing' isn't necessarily to do with just bloggers. I'm really talking about newspapers. To survive they need to be a part of this thing called 'the converstaion'. there is a thirst for news and there is strong desire to talk about it and to further stories on the net. To do that newspapers need to break news on the web and not when the deadline dictates. if they don't bloggers, freelances, or Craig's great aunt will.

If you're up on the net first, you're linked to first and talked about next. Links draw traffic, reputation, conversation and cash. The Guardian understands this, The Independent does not.

[Linda]

Hi Graham. Yesterday I was discussing a latest twist in the fortunes of PR Business magazine, saying they looked grim - and was informed that it had 'been all over the blogs for weeks' - so there's two more I can add to my list :-)

[Graham]

Linda, did you pick up on this post?

http://www.completetosh.com/weblog/2006/08/trying_to_stop_.html

[Linda]

Hey Graham, unsurprisingly (!) no I hadn't - thanks - I think! Good luck with your move.

[Graham]

When you're done with that, move on tho this:

http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/08/01/bigger-better-journalism/#comments

And thanks. The house is two thirds empty and will be fully empty with two hours. DSL hanging on by a thread...

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