Life After Newspapers: Editor, John Yemma, Checks-in a Year After the Christian Science Monitor Became the CSMonitor.com

There is a very thoughtful column over at Paid Content from the editor of the Christian Science Monitor, John Yemma, that should resonate with the media experts. It’s a companion piece of sorts to the observations that other people have been making, such as Rupert Murdoch or Pete Blackshaw, regarding our infatuation with the razzle dazzle of new media technology - not with regards to advertising, but with regard to content and editorial.

Mr. Yemma has a pretty good vantage point from which to cast his views upon us: the Christian Science Monitor, after all, passed the gulp test last year when, after 100 years, it ceased publishing as a daily newspaper to become a web-based international news outlet supported by a weekly magazine. (CSMonitor.com is a Burst Media customer.)

Today, Mr. Yemma says:

“…there’s no evidence that [consumers] want, for instance, a thoughtful interactive map/video/database mashup on Afghanistan or global warming on which they can comment. There’s no evidence that users love these things so much that they flock to them, stay around, and convert to a news site’s brand because of cool multimedia.

So here’s my position: There is no future in a pay wall. No salvation in digital razzle dazzle.

There is, however, a bold future in relevant content.”

He makes other observations in his article that reveal a year of living dangerously online, such as:

“As for interactivity, we typically don’t invite readers to comment at the bottom of our stories. Don’t get me wrong, we want thoughtful comments. But comment-happy sites that don’t moderate often allow a brilliant piece to be followed by a string of rotten tomatoes thrown by—how can I put this delicately?—comment jerks.”

(Jeff Jarvis was thinking deeply about “comment jerks”, recently - or, he would say, about the “level of discourse on the internet”. Whichever.  As a sidebar note I’ll say I’m ready for broad-based, civic action against “jerk discourse.”)

But the essence of John Yemma’s report is this, as he says at the end:

“The multimedia debate needs a new question: How are we using technology to create a more relevant product? We’re not going to “save” media by out-featuring each other. We can and will re-cement media by using the technology to deliver the experience consumers want most: intelligent, meaningful news that’s accessible where they are in the moment.”

“Intelligent, meaningful news that’s accessible where they are in the moment.”

Ahhh. Out of chaos, simplicity.

Advertisement