...] Newspaper: So, let’s pretend the Internet doesn’t exist I don’t usually subscribe to all the ‘heritage media, death of newspapers’ stuff but when I saw the Sydney Morning Herald this morning I almost choked on my home-made, organic, wholemeal sourdough toast. Here’s the copy from the ad that caught my attention: As the race to the White House comes down to the wire, don’t miss the Herald’s unmatched coverage of this critical US Election. You can rely on the Herald’s expert team on the ground, Annabel Crabb, Anne Davis, Peter Hartcher and Ian Munro, [...

I reckon the newspaper guys aren’t so worried about the death of the newspaper as such, but the death of their own jobs, personally, because they’ve failed to adapt.

The problem with the SMH’s me-too US election plan is that it doesn’t provide anything different, as you’ve rightfully pointed out, Trevor. There’s a real herd mentality, and a really deep rut of established news-value norms which says “this is a big story, therefore we must cover it”. It’s the same dull conformity which means three channels of TV news have the same stories, in the same order, with the same angles — and often with the same pictures! — every goddam night.

When your local newspaper(s) were the only source of all news, and because a newspaper is an all-or-nothing thing, this made sense. But now we can choose our news from an immense palette of specialist sources. Apiece here, a piece there.

I’d no sooner turn to SMH for US election news that I’d turn to Pig Breeders Gazette for an analysis of the war in Afghanistan.

I wonder whether a “local” paper like the SMH, aiming at its Bondi-to-Leichhardt, Mosman to Surry Hills demographic, could actually be bold enough to drop international news entirely and re-deploy all those resources to serious journalism about our city?

Like you i dont think print is going away anytime soon but this illustration of their ignorance is disappointing.

To try and highlight the relevance of this format as the race ‘comes down to the wire’ accentuates the point, come Wednesday morning virtually everything the Herald carries in the print edition will be irrelevant. As the polls close radio, TV and the web will dominate election coverage.

Congrats to Crabb and Hartcher on what should be an A Grade junkett, enjoy, it will likely be the last in this mode of operation.

...] Newspaper: So, let’s pretend the Internet doesn’t exist I don’t usually subscribe to all the ‘heritage media, death of newspapers’ stuff but when I saw the Sydney Morning Herald this morning I almost choked on my home-made, organic, wholemeal sourdough toast. Here’s the copy from the ad that caught my attention: As the race to the White House comes down to the wire, don’t miss the Herald’s unmatched coverage of this critical US Election. You can rely on the Herald’s expert team on the ground, Annabel Crabb, Anne Davis, Peter Hartcher and Ian Munro, [...