IP Democracy: Must-Read: Post Articles on Ten Internet Years

The Washington Post ran a series of articles yesterday on what it calls “ten Internet years,” or ten years during which the Post specifically, and the newspaper industry more broadly, has been grappling with the enormous changes wrought by the Web. The first is a piece by PressThink’s Jay Rosen, which focuses on how newspapers evolved their web strategies from “repurposing” print content to empowering readers.

It’s a long way from “Excuse us, just re-purposing,” to, “Oh my God, there’s been a power shift.” But since 2004, mainstream providers have shown signs of learning to swing with the Web. They supported blogs. They encouraged interactivity. They began to re-draw their picture of their audience.

The Post’s Patricia Sullivan has this piece that documents the decline of traditional media and how newspapers, in particular, are trying to cope with this massive sea-change.

There’s no question that the Internet has changed the news industry in the past decade. Old media has learned that simply shoveling content from one medium to the Web doesn’t work, any more than reading a newspaper into a TV camera capitalizes on the strength of that medium.

Technology has driven behavioral changes, as reporters, producers, photographers and editors learn that interactivity in the form of e-mail, blogs, polls, hyperlinks, Videologs, podcasts and news delivered via cell phones can open their work up to a newer and bigger audience, for better or worse. It’s far easier for a reader to find a reporter now than it was in the past; it’s also easier for a story published overseas or in a local or regional outlet to have a bigger impact. No longer are readers or viewers bound by network broadcast schedules, the delivery of a newspaper or magazine or the top-of-the-hour radio headlines.

Finally, the Post’s Steve Fox has documented the history of how the Post’s, and Washington Post Newsweek Interactive’s, web strategies have evolved from their beginnings in a 1992 memo by then-managing editor Bob Kaiser.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on June 20, 2006 7:47 AM to IP Democracy