The lonely newspaper reader

David Carr, the media reporter at the New York Times, has this interesting piece on his and his family’s experience with the newspaper and why new media are rapidly changing the way people regard newspapers. And according this story, the signs are not very good: US newspapers have lost their value by as much as 20 percent in the last two years.

I guess Philippine newspapers, which have been slow to adapt to new technology and whose markets are not yet as Internet-savvy as those in Western countries like the US, have an advantage here. In a way, what’s happening in the US is like market research for our newspapers. Which is to say Filipino newspaper owners and editors have to really learn from the experience of their First World counterparts.

If they take this trend seriously, Filipino media owners and editors can avoid the pitfalls many US media companies have fallen into. Or, armed with the lessons from the experience of these western media outlets, they can leapfrog onto new trends in media and journalism, such as the use of blogging to enhance content, multimedia, etc.

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John Nery promises to get the hang of his new role as columnist of Inquirer.net. Bryant on the killings of journalists in 2006 around the world. Howie Severino on the Top 10 trips he took in 2006. Joe Torres has a new blog. I’m beginning to miss Manolo Quezon. Jove Francisco says he’s fat. Joseph Morong gets a tad too sappy (again). Ilang-ilang Quijano bids 2006 goodbye. Mong Palatino on how blogs work in mysterious ways. Frank Cimatu has some New Year’s list. RG Cruz on the “Magic 12.”

[tags]pinoypress, blogging, philippine press, newspapers, new york times, online journalism, media[/tags]