“Online, the gap between print and digital content values is closing fast,” says Folio’s Bob Cohn in a recent post on “the new journalism.”
Cohn gives an interesting take on the development of digital journalism — from its early “wild West” mentality to its more respectable form today.
“Once upon a time, there was old media. It was reported, edited, top-edited, copy-edited, and fact-checked. It was good. And there was new media. It was fast, hungry, loosely edited, quick to fix the mistakes it often made. It was good enough,” he says.
Cohn covers the evolution not just of the reporting itself, but the evolution of digital content design in shaping the online reporting of today. And he’s correct that the value of what’s being created has improved. Journalists are crossing the aisles — in both directions — and each industry is better for it.
In our view, good writing can exist anywhere. Outstanding content deserves to be created in the mediums that can best deliver it in ways that have impact and staying power. We aren’t surprised that “traditional” versus “new” writers are closing the quality gap. Indeed many of these writers create in both digital and print, and bring the same values to their work no matter where it takes them.
And we agree with Cohn that good is no longer good enough. Good can always get better, whether consumed on paper or via digital.
Comments are closed.