my personal blog
In the spirit of the Australian web community, I’m pleased to announce I’m doing a new podcast with Elias Bizannes on TPN called Silicon Beach Australia. We’ll be talking to Australian web entrepreneurs about their companies, dreams and motivations. Our first podcast is with Mike Cannon-Brookes from Atlassian and we have some great guests lined up already. Have a look and leave feedback. It’s all about the conversation people 
My new movie muse Fidlr told me about the Drunk History series, which I just have to recommend everyone to look at. I was really busy and didn’t get round to watching them till yesterday - but it is just frakin BRILLIANT.
This is my favourite one *hic* but make sure you look them all up on YouTube.
I spoke on a panel yesterday at the MEAA’s Future of Journalism summit in Brisbane on, “Tools or toys: techniques and technology for the digital age.” Margaret Simons opened the conference with some very straight-shooting talk on where she saw the industry heading and it looked vastly like unexplored territory. What makes her points so interesting is that she is one of the few journalists I know who is trying to forge a living from journalism outside of established media companies and she is very frank in saying that she is still trying to find out how to do that exactly. As Cameron Reilly pointed out the economics of media have shifted fundamentally and its time we looked for new models, but we are not going to find them by relying on the old way of doing things. Margaret said she believes the most exciting journalism in the future will not be happening in traditional media - something I agree with wholeheartedly. It’s not happening often yet, but it is starting to happen and there will come a time when traditional media is not the place where the most interesting stories are happening or even where most news is made.
The other point then is how do we find these stories? I like Jay Rosen’s video on “How to Digest News“, which goes some way in explaining why crowd-powered aggregation sites are so important. You can’t assume that on your own you can find the best news out there - finding a trusted site that filters news for you makes more sense.
My own advice for journalists on how to prepare for the future is to start investing in themselves and to experiment in online participation. Going from writing news in a straight non-personal style to writing online is quite confronting - I remember it took me some time to find my voice and gain some confidence in writing from a personal perspective. The best place to start to learn the nuances of online communication, in my opinion, is Twitter - and the key is not then to just create content, but to participate as well - a point Jean Burgess from QUT made during the day. It’s those who start taking the risks now that will be better off in the future. I know it’s a confronting situation, but it’s time to face reality - things are not going back to what they were.
UPDATE: You can find more coverage on the seminar on Lavartus Prodeo, and Wooly Days.
I’ll be speaking at The Future of Journalism Summit in Brisbane next week on Saturday, 13 September. I decided I’d give the MEAA a call after I looked through the panelists and found most were from control media companies, who quite frankly, are no longer the authority on all things media.
Details for the event are:
The Future of Journalism Conference
2 George Street, Brisbane QLD 4000
9am to 4pm, Saturday September 13, 2008
Members: $66 Students: $44 Non-members: $88
Enquiries & Bookings: 1300 656 513
or email melissa.mcallister@alliance.org.au
I’m also hoping Brisbane Twitterers can organise a BTUB on the Friday as I’d love to meet some of them.
I’m even willing to sponsor the event - well Brisbane Norg is anyway Nothing like free beer to spread a bit of love.
Thought it was worth pointing out a great piece in Crikey today by Dr John Cokley from The University of Queensland about the MEAA’s role in the Fairfax sackings.
I’ve been having similar thoughts - I’ve yet to see an MEAA event advertised that seems to have any grasp of the changes taking place in media - other than to point out that its happening. Dr Cokley writes:
The future of journalism rests with journalists, not with the owners and managers of the processes of capital designed to deliver journalism. This is the incredibly simple distinction which MEAA officials have failed to make explicit – perhaps even to realise – in the current stoush (and in all previous ones I’ve witnessed since I paid dues from 1981-1995).
You can read the full piece here.
If you are one of the journalists standing in a picket line outside The Age and SMH, I have to ask - do you realise how pathetic you look?
If there was a journalists equivalent to the forlorn lovers “He’s not into you” I’d be suggesting you read it. It’s time for some straight-talking, so forgive me if my words sound harsh and unsympathetic, but it’s not like the writing hasn’t been on the wall for some time now. Break-ups are tough, but you can get over this and move on to better, brighter things.
Let’s start with the basics. Fairfax and other news monoliths like it cannot survive in the future. I almost feel silly having to say that, but there it is. Fairfax made a bold first move by being quick to get traditional reporting into an online format, but I guess they took it for granted that the memory of those early days would sustain the audience. Seems like you may have as well. But it’s crunch time and you have some choices to make. The good news is there is an opportunity to redeem yourself.
David Kirk has made you an offer and is calling for volunteers before compulsory redundancies. Your relationship is clearly strained and here he is giving you a dignified out and you choose to beg him to take you back? Where is your backbone, your fire, your passion for news? Has Fairfax got you so wrapped around its finger that you think the only way you can be a good journalist is to stay with it? Guess what - people produce good news outside of news corporations everyday. And you can too. Take the divorce settlement and learn to stand on your own feet again. You are better off investing in a relationship with your audience - you’ll find it infinitely more rewarding.