Old Media vs New Media….

A couple days back I put up a promo video that I was fond of from Gawker Media which proclaims blogs as “the future”. However of late its been clear that if blogs really are the future, then unfortunately newspapers and magazines are “the past.” With dozens of high profile magazine closing down in this economy in addition to a graveyard of newspapers ceasing or dramatically scaling back their operations , there has been a lot of backlash against new media and the web. David Simon, creator of the Wire (highest rated television show ever on imdb.com), recently gave some testimony on this thoughts on the newspaper business. Simon wrote for the Baltimore Sun before his career in show business and makes some great points.

Simon makes some a lot of good points, many echoing his sentiments that were evident in the last season of The Wire which incorporated the inner working Baltimore Sun as a major plot layer. Full of good points, Simon suggests making newspapers into non profit organizations in hopes of staying viable. Simon believes that both Wall Street and government assistance both taints quality, which in turn taints the prospects of being a viable business. I think as new media gains more traction, were likely to see more flareups like Google vs. The AP and the famed Bissinger vs. Leitch confrontation on Costas Now. As the CEO of Bloguin, I try to find blogs for our network that don’t find themselves synonymous with snarky commentary criticism without substance. Its a fine line, and there are  people like Bissinger (shown below freaking out) who are predisposed to the notion that all blogs are committed to cruelty opposed to commentary and analysis. Regardless that all 3 share opposed viewpoints,  Simon, Bissinger, and  Leith, all agree on one thing: New media is the future.