our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor

We're still embedded in the Revolution here at Mobydicknews, so what better way to celebrate the 4th than with a rap about the course of human events. My good, slightly demented friend at brothersgentry offers me a juicy link to We Media. These folks are all about lean forward media producers versus lean back media consumers, basically folks like me, and folks like me. These two have interesting things to say. If you haven't been here before, and are interested in the future of media, take a trip to Media Hub.

A whale of a story

Let's say traditional media is the media your parents were familiar with. I grew up with Royko, my grandfather loved Lippmann, my son and daughter might like MySpace or Meetup or whatever the next generation of cultural mirroring is -- Mygoogle? Tradition takes staying power. Traditions are built on rock and graves, not rubber. The point here is that blogs are still rubber. We don't know what's going to happen in the next two years, let alone the next two weeks. What's your traditional media? Drudge? Slate? I'm going to rip this off from David Carr at The New York Times writing about the blog bubble. Carr interviewed Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker Media. Carr got Denton to say pretty pragmatic things like: "We are becoming a lot more like a traditional media company. You launch a site, you have great hopes for it and it does not grow as much as you wanted. You have to have the discipline to recognize what isn't working and put your money and efforts into those sites that are."

Whales in history

With the Civil War lingering past the campaign of 1864, but after Lincoln began his second term, Congress took another shot at the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery. The Illinois rail-splitter had this to say about the quest:

"We are like whalers who have been long on a chase: we have at last got the harpoon into the monster, but we must now look how we steer, or with one 'flop' of his tail he will send us all into eternity."

Lincoln was talking about democracy and the Union and states rights versus the right of the Republic to fight and survive and restore -- to fix the Constitution so that all could reap its promises. But the perfection of his rhetoric was its timelessness. He is talking about any struggle, fought hard, so let's borrow it here, and apply it to media in the digital age. We've struck the Internet, now we must steer.

A whaling we go

Who wants to be extinct? Not me, and not the almightly white whale. Think ink and paper are the mediums of the future? Think again. Our buddy at Poynter, Romenesko, scooped up a memo from the Old Grey Lady New York Times about integrating Web and ink journalism. Of course, despite the protests of the Boomers, the news business has always been fluid, from the penny press to stone tablets, it ain't ever been about the vehicle, it's been about the driver. So, get on board the digital railroad or go eat sand on the beach.

Leading and Bleeding

Global warming doesn't bleed much, nor do mathematics and science text books or complicated $3 billion budgets.....you get the point. What do people really want to read, hear and see and what do media outlets feed them to read, hear and see?

Two points:
1. CBS has the guts to put a rant on its website against local television coverage.
2. I found this guy at blogspot - a former city editor turned techno-capitalist who is worth reading.

The whale is a worthy nemesis

There is a place for blogs in the preservation of democracy, just like there was a place for the penny press. A healthy 4th estate doesn't have to mean the rising circulation of a few. A broader and deeper vision is beneficial to everyone: Drudge, theblognation, CBS, Sulzberger......

Still, some things make you wonder about eating our own......

The Seattle Times and Seattle P-I in a death grip.

The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philly Daily News begging for someone, anyone?, to buy them.

Dean Singleton grabbing the St. Paul Pioneer Press -- buying his way into another JOA marriage, this time with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

The NYTimes and Washington Post at war over the International Herald-Tribune rather than enterprise journalism.

Can we be serious?

First of all, as I sow a few digital oats, a word about the title of this blog -- Mobydicknews. We are on a quest for elusive prey. The white whale that lurks on these pages is hunting us as much as we will hunt it.

This is all to say, Mobydicknews is journalistic nirvana.

Call me editor. Let's swim.

Serious Times Call for Serious News

TV viewers want more national and international news, less crime and entertainment, researcher says:

Entering the digital universe