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A year without newspapers?

The hard-nosed traditionalist journalists among us have got to like this suggestion from the Chicago Reader. Michael Lenehan proposes that professional journalists go on strike for a year. Let bloggers, citizen journalists and news robots report the news. Let's have no reporting, no editing, no application of any human intelligence whatsoever to events public or private till January 1, 2007. I'm calling it the Year Without Journalism. Let's all relax, let go, and float blissfully in the information-free state (excuse me, I mean free-information state) that our public awaits so eagerly. (Via Romenesko.)

It's a deliciously cold-blooded rant that makes a lot of sense. Until you think about it for 10 seconds. It reveals the worst side of us, even as it is written by an alt-weekly editor. Defensive. Hard-headed. Blames others, mostly Craig and Google. Feels sorry for ourselves. Thinks that if we hold our breath until we turn blue we'll get what we want, which is a return to the good old days.

Worst of all, it doesn't acknowledge what it should embrace: that the access to new tools, new methods and new information that citizens have we have, too. And we're actually getting paid to use them to serve readers better. Maybe we should try moving forward?

The other problem with his thesis is that nature abhors a vacuum. Our absence would get filled.

Comments (3)

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Roch101 said:

Funny, especially putting bloggers on the information-free side of the equation. Lenehan might also consider that the reason many became interested in citizens media is because we felt that the "press" had already taken a vacation.

Yes -- nature abhors a vacuum. I'm just remembering Reagan's air traffic controllers!

mrproduce said:

Sounds like a plan to me since most so-called journalist are OTL or braindead anyhow.
We would probably get more well rounded news without these so called journalist who insist on introducing their own agenda into every piece they write.
Yep, sounds like a might fine idea and just think how happy it would make tree huggers with all the paper saved.

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