Saturday was the 3rd Annual SaskBloggers get together in Saskatoon. The turnout was pretty good with 7 bloggers and 2 guests in attendance. I think we made more noise laughing than kids getting ice cream in the restaurant.
Saskboy (me), Lore_Weaver (whose blog has been spammed into malfunctioning), Jadon, Twyla, Tanya, Zach Bell, and Huffb1 came out to talk politics, pollution, technology, car sharing, blogs, and more.
On the way back from Saskatoon, Patty and I clocked a coyote with the front bumper at 100km/h. The bumper, and the coyote did not survive.
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In talking with my dead-tree-media relative later on in the day, he made a good point that once newspapers are no longer able to sell advertising, and professional journalism newsrooms give way to blogs and central TV news services, democracy is going to suffer a crisis. Spin doctors will feed bloggers, and they will flood media with mostly spin, without professional journalists to gather news and filter the filler from the facts. It’s logic counter-intuitive to bloggers who are distrustful of professional media, but undeniably there will be fewer bloggers attending court, or press conferences than there are newspaper journalists. Will bloggers step up, and gather news when the pros get other jobs?
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A news story on Saturday Report about Right to Play, reminded me that VANOC 2010 is not allowing Right to Play to appear at the Olympics because they have sponsors that might conflict with those who paid to sponsor the Olympics. It’s a fine example of how VANOC and the Olympics are totally corrupt, and place money above the spirit of sport and children.
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penlan | 19-Oct-08 at 5:08 am | Permalink
“Will bloggers step up, and gather news when the pros get other jobs?”
I think, that given some time, bloggers will step up. Any changes take awhile to implement & like everything people who are interested will organize & “get going”.
Zach Bell | 19-Oct-08 at 8:07 am | Permalink
Firstly, thanks for organizing the Sask Blogs meet. That was great fun and next time, we’ll stuff our faces with East Indian foods that will tickle your taste buds into submissive delight.
Secondly, the term “dead tree media” encourages much laughter to spew forth from my big mouth. Wonderful.
Media does what it does as a medium of information delivery because it sells advertising. When I talked to a guy at News Talk Radio, I asked if they derived income in any other way aside from advertising. The answer was no. Zip. Once mainstream media can no longer sell advertising, it will be the bloggers who capture this market. After the bloggers capture this market, they will have the required income to do just what the newspapers do and attend court proceedings or travel to a rider’s game…well, the second one already kinda happens…a lot!
Aside from that, newspapers, television and radio media outlets already deliver their own notable spin when spouting the news. Having been the subject of more than one news story in my day, I can tell you that some facts are dismissed often in favour of sensationalism. Newspapers are no either editorial sheets from local opinionators, or they are a news delivery platform for AP or CP.
There has and always will be spin. When mainstream media does die and bloggers take their place, it will simply be a different community doing what the old guard did but we will be doing it better. Perhaps the only free market that exists in Canada today is the marketplace of ideas…and even that market is some what suppressed. Despite that, it is still progressing towards the best possible outcome and unfortunately for journalists, that means eventual irrelevance as they currently exist.
Megan | 19-Oct-08 at 11:13 am | Permalink
We’re watching a fundamental shift in the media. I’m not at all sure that bloggers will step up and start to gather news. I don’t think newspapers will entirely die, but we are definitely seeing a decline in the number of small, locally owned newspapers. The trend is toward regional or national papers that are owned by a single corporation.
Zach Bell | 19-Oct-08 at 4:00 pm | Permalink
There is a national and even a global marketplace for news from newspapers but I think the trend is a symptom of something rather than an independent movement of preferences. As local media becomes more irrelevant with several citizen journalists in the mix, mainstream news sources are being pushed into more generalized spheres. When the mainstream media gets that wrong (and they have) bloggers will (and they are already) pick up the slack there and provide national and international content as well.
News outlets are nothing more than advertisement sales offices. Because advertising provides their sole source of revenue, not only are they dependent upon it, but it also creates an insular world where news media tends to be less responsive to the public need for credible information than they are to their advertisers. Bloggers do not currently suffer from this hindrance, nor are they likely to in any significant manner in the future. I think the public likes that and responds positively to it.
Tanya Derbowka | 19-Oct-08 at 8:30 pm | Permalink
Is that the bet picture you could find? I look ridiculous!
Zach Bell | 19-Oct-08 at 8:59 pm | Permalink
I look great though…a Mussoliniesque kind of look don’tcha think?
Saskboy | 19-Oct-08 at 11:08 pm | Permalink
Twyla’s got a photo out there too somewhere, get her to post her’s :-)
Twyla | 20-Oct-08 at 12:52 am | Permalink
My photo’s posted. Of course, Zach still looks like a dweeb, but that’s his own fault. ;)
I feel bad for the poor coyote. And for the bumper cost. =(
Zach Bell | 20-Oct-08 at 8:19 pm | Permalink
I embrace my dweebery!