Can a crowd really edit our daily paper? One of the most fascinating questions is what, if any, future there is for newspapers as the creative destruction of the internet gathers pace. What is happening to the media is merely a high-profile version of what is going on in almost every other activity from politics to film-making. The digital revolution is turning ordinary people into both creators of content (whether videos, online journals or books) and arbiters of the process that decides what gets published and how it is rated. [...]
The need to be the first blog on the block to spread a bit of regurgitated news, complete with your own spin, isn't obviously a way to become a trusted brand. Speed is the enemy of depth. Newspapers still have a vital role in generating trusted content. Whether it then appears on printed paper, on a portable screen, on a website complete with video (making it converge with television) or a mobile device (where the potential has only been scratched) remains to be seen. At least newspapers, unlike the music industry, aren't trying to deny that a revolution is taking place.
