We seem to be making an exception for our editorial rule here: no more discussions on saving the news. The topic is exhausted and nobody really knows the answer. Still, LR Pal Jeff Jarvis made it all the way to the Op-Ed pages of the New York Post with his piece, “How Not To Save The News,” and it’s worth a read because it deals with potential government intervention. Jarvis’s message to the FTC: do not get involved.
“The Federal Trade Commission says it wants to save journalism. I’m not sure who asked it to. […] I believe that future is entrepreneurial, not institutional. The industry’s institutions have had 15 years since the start of the commercial Web and we’ve seen how far they can come. What we need now are innovators — like my entrepreneurial journalism students — to invent new forms, structures, efficiencies and business models for news. But those entrepreneurs don’t need government help. They need to be left alone with the assurance they won’t be interfered with by the FTC — or the FCC, which has its own hearings and reports on the future of journalism.”
Jarvis is a controversial figure (and I’m sure he’d be the first to agree) because of his strong stances on news. However, in 10 years of reporting on this stuff, I’ve found he’s right more often than not. He’s a radical. And we need more radical thinking.