A journalist lamenting the Twitterfication of his profession in 2010?
America has in fact transformed journalism from what it once was, the periodical expression of the thought of the time, the opportune record of the questions and answers of contemporary life, into an agency for collecting, condensing and assimilating the trivialities of the entire human existence, [...] the frantic haste with which we bolt everything we take, seconded by the eager wish of the journalist not to be a day behind his competitor, abolishes deliberation from judgment and sound digestion from our mental constitutions. We have no time to go below surfaces, and as a general thing no disposition.
Not exactly: “Writing in the Atlantic Monthly in 1891, W.J. Stillman, a journalist and critic, decried the effects of the telegraph on his profession.”
Everything old is new again.
JKW said:
I suppose that proves how wrongheaded the criticisms of “twitterification” really are. The telegraph ushered in a new era of information, not only for journalists, but for common people.
This piece is more a suggestion of the misunderstood value that twitter and services like it will come to have on our lives and journalism.
Mitch Glaser said:
This reminds me of the article decrying the horrible state of the country’s youth and how they heralded the end of the world. The article was written in ancient Greece.
Name said:
By way of refuting JKW, I would say to Mitch: Yeah, and look how well Greece turned out!
Sami said:
A tool will yield value in the hands of only that person who knows how to wield it. Technology is but a tool. It will yield value in a society to the extent that it is utilized properly. Wielded improperly, it can cause more harm than good.
Bill said:
If journalism – or reasoned thought for that matter – were *reduced* to the likes of twitter and a sound bite, we would certainly be in a sad state. However, where innovation like twitter has been used as a faster, broader, (and also more discoverable) delivery mechanism for thoughts which have been well thought out and reasoned, there is hope.
In this latter case the people are empowered to break outside the confines of editors and funded media. Also the distinction between the media and the consumer is blurred, encouraging everyone to both think harder, and to contribute/challenge what they hear.