Showing posts with label the future. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the future. Show all posts

27 November 2012

The End Is Near -- Newspapers Teeter On Brink Of Extinction

"The truth needs no support." - A.P. [name concealed], served 25 years in prison for murder. From a jailhouse interview with The Baltimore Spectator.


Anyone following The Baltimore Spectator and managing editor James MacArthur, knows the passion with which he preaches.

newspapers (Tehrān)
For years now, one man has been sounding the trumpet louder than most, decrying the end is near. Like so many once exciting and groundbreaking developments in communication, the day-of-the-end, of the newspaper is now nearer than ever. Even at the door.

Just like the telegraph -- once seen as one of the greatest innovations in disseminating information -- was eventually replaced by successive technologies, starting with the telephone. The newspaper perhaps should have already been laid to rest, but is being held together by a deceptive facade of non-existent vitality.

Is a person in a vegetative state, on full life support really considered "alive?" It's the same for the newspapers. As revenue continues to bleed, the very lifeblood of the once dominant media oozes away, bringing us ever nearer to an inevitable utter complete collapse.

The writing is literally on the wall, but despite that, like the orchestra playing a sweet serenade on the Titanic, as the mighty vessel continued to take on water, it will be a while before the slowly sinking ship is completely submerged.

Unlike previous Titanic films, Cameron's retel...
At this point, the only hope of survival for crew members is to jump off now while they still can. There's something about sinking ships and the powerful vortex they create as they go down.

Leaping to safety too late can sometimes be futile. One who delays can find themselves being pulled under by a swirling whirlpool to certain death.

It's truly sad to see the demise of a medium that's had such a huge, instrumental role in the great history of our county. The world has been shaped by words written in newspapers.

When it's all over, like we do with departed loved ones, it's certain there'll be gatherings and conversations filled with fond memories of the formerly living.

The graveyard
In the meantime, new media entities, independent reporters and others continue to grow in strength, reach, quality and penetration. In nature, once a vacuum is created, it's empty space is soon filled.

Even in the forest, the old growth eventually has to be cleared, for the new growth to rise. Sometimes they die of old age, sometimes its a brutal fiery death, as the trees are consumed in a raging inferno.

Speaking of trees, you know they make paper from dead ones right? Newspapers.

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10 October 2012

A Message From The Editor



A New Day Has Come

Welcome to the brand new Baltimore Spectator! For those of you who've been following my new media journey, you can clearly see a change has been taking place.

From hard hitting editorials, to controversial videos and stories of interest from around the world, a small metamorphosis is happening before you. Over the past few weeks, the Baltimore Spectator website has been slowly rising from the smoldering ashes. This was once a great source of exclusive news, information and commentary and like the mythical phoenix, its reemergence comes at a time when most have long written it off for dead.

The original Baltimore Spectator sent shockwaves throughout local media upon first arriving. Known for high volume, top quality, first hand, first on scene, feet-on-the-street reporting, the site early on carved out a unique niche within the Baltimore media news ecosystem. Many people said there was just a certain something about it. A unique combination of factual reporting, pithy wit, serious social and political commentary and just enough of a tabloid feel to keep things interesting.

Among regular readers have been none other than Governor Martin O'Malley and numerous other state and local elected offials. Nearly every Baltimore news reporter, talk show host, or producer has at one time or another included a stop off at The Spectator as part of their regular rounds in searching out the buzz on the streets.


The Demise

At some point before officially retiring from journalism, updates on the site grew few and far between. I was unable to take to the streets to gather news like I had. Life became overly complex, numerous challenges mounted up, and other duties took priority.

Questions poured in about what was going on, why hasn't new material been posted? Eventually the questions stopped and most simply accepted it was over. Finished. Through!

To say things have been tumultuous would be an understatement, but that was then and this is now.

The Future

I'm not going to make any grand announcements or lofty predictions of what lies ahead for The Baltimore Spectator, except to say change is coming. There's much more in store.

Be sure to check these newsletters continuously to get an inside, behind-the-scenes look at some of my future plans, and the projects I hope to accomplish in this wonderful and grand, long-running, independent, new media experiment.



Truth To The Masses!


A.F. James MacArthur
Managing Editor

21 March 2009

Crab Eaters Panic -- Newspapers Dying!

With Less Readers, Few Uses Left For Newspapers

by A.F. James MacArthur, Managing Editor

Now before my friends, or perhaps now former friends get even more upset with me (see Phony Baltimore Sun),
you need to put on your analytical thinking cap and clearly grasp what is being said.

Although entire newspapers have gone 100% bankrupt, many closing their doors for ever, we are not suggesting that newspapers as a business will go away.


IT'S THE MEDIUM STUPID!

What's being said, and missed by so many. Those who've entrenched themselves so deep in defensive mode, they'd need a periscope to view the outside world are so caught up, they can't see what the rest of us do. The actual paper your print your news on, this will soon be all but gone.

Space does not permit me to go into a full cost benefit analysis. A few simple points can be made though. One, paper and it's costs are a fluctuating commodity. Much like gas, it's now nearly impossible to long term budget, because no one knows what the price of tea in China will be tomorrow. Speaking of gas, it takes a lot of it, and diesel also, to get those newspapers all over the place everyday. Can anyone say, E X P E N S I V E ?

So while those trucks are rumbling down the road, spewing greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, carrying around those rain forest depleting dead trees, change happens. By the time your papers reach their destination, the world has already changed since the stories were submitted for deadline. Put simply, it's already YESTERDAY'S NEWS.

Championing the rise of new media is not to suggest, the old companies are no longer needed. Those of us early adopters to fully integrated multi-media, new media platforms, just understand that the times are changing. The thought of using stimulus dollars to prop up a dying, environmentally destructive, financially inefficient business model is frightening and irresponsible.

Instead of pumping blood transfusions into a a nearly lifeless corpse, shouldn't we also be seriously considering reconstructive surgery? Lastly, I offer a couple analogies. In the forest (there's those trees again), the old stalwart hardwoods eventually must die. It is a cycle of nature, unavoidable and utterly inevitable. This is necessary to let the sun (yes pun intended) shine through to the newer younger growth hidden beneath the canopy. Be it natural death of old age, or the eventual forest fire cycle, nature has it's ways of ushering out the old, and bringing in the new.

The change is coming whether we like it or not. A choice can be made to stubbornly resist it and stand in front, or get on board and surf (the web) the wave, harnessing it's energy for rapid forward propulsion. If we were on the North Shore of Oahu, would you rather surf the big waves, or just stand there and get flattened as the water crashes over you?

BALTIMORE SPECTATOR RADIO NETWORK - BSRN

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MESSAGE TO ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT/INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES

To all those who willfully, deliberately and routinely violate the civil rights of law abiding American Citizens; Yes, you're powerful. Sure, you're everywhere. But this is still America, and the Constitution of the United States Of America still reigns supreme as the law of the land. The Baltimore Spectator will vigorously and aggressively defend against any and all attempts at spying and suppression. Let it be known to all that we are already aware of the regular monitoring and shadowing attempts. There is nothing to hide, but cross the line and there will be hell to pay.

In the end, efforts to impinge upon the freedoms of the people will ultimately fail. Some of us may get taken out in the ongoing battle for true and lasting freedom, but as I've said many times before, and will say till the day I die or get taken out by you goons, THERE ARE MORE OF US, THAN THERE ARE OF YOU.


A.F. James MacArthur -- American patriot & lover of liberty.

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