So just as I’m getting through the part in Autumn of the Moguls about Wolff’s interview with Rupert Murdoch, comes today’s Murdoch speech to the ASNE.
See analysis from Jeff Jarvis, who also indirectly helped to write the speech.
A few favorite passages (links and emphasis mine):
The peculiar challenge then, is for us digital immigrants – many of
whom are in positions to determine how news is assembled and
disseminated — to apply a digital mindset to a set of challenges that
we unfortunately have limited to no first-hand experience dealing with.
We need to realize that the next generation of people accessing news
and information, whether from newspapers or any other source, have a
different set of expectations about the kind of news they will get,
including when and how they will get it, where they will get it from,
and who they will get it from...
The challenge, however, is to deliver that news in ways consumers want
to receive it. Before we can apply our competitive advantages, we have
to free our minds of our prejudices and predispositions, and start
thinking like our newest consumers. In short, we have to answer this
fundamental question: What do we – a bunch of digital immigrants —
need to do to be relevant to the digital natives?
The punchline?
And the data support this unpleasant truth. Studies show we’re in an
odd position: We’re more trusted by the people who aren’t reading us.
And when you ask journalists what they think about their readers, the
picture grows darker. According to one recent study, the percentage of
national journalists who have a great deal of confidence in the ability
of the American public to make good decisions has declined by more than
20 points since 1999. Perhaps this reflects their personal politics and
personal prejudices more than anything else, but it is disturbing.This is a polite way of saying that reporters and editors think their readers are stupid. …
Newspapers whose employees look down on their readers can have no hope of ever succeeding as a business…
I do not underestimate the tests before us. We may never
become true digital natives, but we can and must begin to
assimilate to their culture and way of thinking. It is a
monumental, once-in-a-generation opportunity, but it is also
an exciting one, because if we’re successful, our industry
has the potential to reshape itself, and to be healthier
than ever before.
I wonder what Rupert would think of Our Little Enterprise?
