The Natural Selection of an Evolving Medium

In response “Sorry Newspaper, We Like Your Hotter, Younger Sister”

J. Lubus hits what I believe to be the key aspect to the changes that newspapers and print media are going through today.  The idea that we have a relationship with the media we experience provides a more optimistic look for the future of journalism. While newspapers, like any old technology, might be seeing its last days this doesn’t mean that the written word is doomed. It’s not dying, it's imply adapting.

In some beautifully scientific way, it’s taking part in evolution just like we are. It’s adapting to the society around it. While this may mean that many that are unable to adapt will lose their jobs, thats simply part of this journalistic natural selection.

The democratization of print media has its obvious pros and cons. With the introduction of the internet (the younger hotter sister), society has deemed that we don’t need as many journalists as newspapers currently employ. The journalist of tomorrow must not only be able to investigate and report, but also start conversations and connect people using the advanced media tools that are growing in popularity every day.

Though he takes his analogy a bit far, J. Lubus is also wise in bringing up the growing and controversial relationship between advertising and print media. Advertising has only one alliance, the money. The money is where the people are and the people are slowly moving online. Older generations will debate all day about the positive aspects of hard-copy news. They may even create false expectations that the new products will never be able to live up. However, advertisers aren’t going to hear it if they don’t have the bucks to back it up.

To expand J. Lubus’s already hefty analogy, it’s important to understand that the first person to woe advertising will be the true journalist of tomorrow. This knight in shining armor might be a print journalist, but they might not. They could be an advertiser or a media communications expert.

The answer to finding a successful advertising model might not be that far in the future, but one of the biggest challenges will be finding out where this phenomenon is going to take off and making sure you’re as close to ground zero as possible when this thing decides to explode.