Crónica de uma morte anunciada | Chronicle of a Death Foretold

“As newspapers shuffle toward the twilight, I’m increasingly convinced that the news has been the least of the newspaper industry’s problems. Newspapers are in trouble for reasons that have almost nothing to do with newspaper journalism, and everything to do with the newspaper business. Even a paper stocked with the world’s finest editorial minds wouldn’t have a fighting chance against the economic and technological forces arrayed against the business. The critics have it exactly backward: Journalists and journalism are the victims, not the cause, of the industry’s shaken state.”

Paul Farhi, Don’t Blame the Journalism  –

The economic and technological forces behind the collapse of newspapers

Quais são as razões da crise dos jornais? Paul Fahri, do Washington Post, escreve na edição de Outubro/Novembro da American Journalism Review que são muitas, mas muitas vezes são apontadas as erradas. Uma das coisas que reparo na blogosfera dedicada ao jornalismo é que muitas vezes fechamo-nos no mesmo círculo de conceitos e simplificamos uma realidade que, para além de diversa é extremamente complexa. E como ainda está tudo ainda em processo é natural que hajam muitas ideias pouco exactas. Mas isso faz parte do diálogo, e analisando as ideias dos outros e confrontando-as com as nossas, o nosso pensamento colectivo avança para níveis mais elaborados mais depressa. Essa é grande a maravilha dos nossos dias. Esta pequena divagação serve para vos aconselhar a ler o texto de Fahri com atenção e comparar com tudo o que se tem dito nos últimos dois anos sobre o estado do jornalismo, com maior ou menor grau de violência. Os factores que estão a levar ao fecho dos jornais não são só internos- apesar das administrações muitas vezes estarem longe da realidade – mas exteriores às  redacções, e prendem-se talvez mais com uma conjugação particular de factores económicos e tecnológicos. Não foi a tecnologia que matou os jornais, nem vai ser a tecnologia que vai salvar os jornais. O que estamos a assistir agora, muito provavelmente iríamos assistir  na mesma em diferente grau, sem o factor tecnológico. As razões são eminentemente económicas e estratégicas. O que choca é o grau de surpresa que muitos têm perante esta situação, como se não fosse algo de previsível. Desde a saturação de mercados a quebras na publicidade, são muitas as pontas por onde se podem pegar. Mas não se esqueçam: nunca se leram tantas notícias como hoje, nunca a informação chegou a tantos, nem tão depressa, nem neste volume. O jornalismo é uma actividade que está em florescimento, o negócio é que está a correr mal.

What are the reasons for the newspaper crisis? Paul Fahri, a Washington Post reporter, writes in the October/November issue of the  American Journalism Review that there are lots of them, but many times the wrong ones are pointed out. One thing i notice in the journalism dedicated blogosphere is that many times we limit ourselves in our circle of concepts and over simplify a reality that beside being diversified, is extremely complex. And since everything is still part of an ongoing process, it is natural that many ideas aren’t quite right. But that is part of the dialogue, and analyzing other people’s ideas and confronting them with our own, our collective thinking advances faster to more ellborate levels. This is  the true wonder of our days. This short rant is meant to advise you to read Fahri’s text with attention, and compare it with all that has been said in the last couple of years about the state of journalism, in a more or less violent fashion.  The factors that are leading to the shutting down of  newspapers are not exclusively internal- although many times the administrations are completely out of touch with the reality- but external to the newsrooms, and relate maybe more with a  particular conjugation  of economical and technological factors. It wasn’t technology that killed the newspapers, and for sure it won’t be technology that will save them. What we are watching now, we would anyway, in  a different degree without the technology factor. The reasons are eminently economical and strategic. What is schocking is to see how surprised some are before the current situation, like if it was never going to happen. From market saturation to drops in advertising revenues, there are lots of threads to pull. But don’t forget: we never read as much news as we do now, never the information reached so many, nor so fast or in such great volume. Journalism is a flourishing activity, it’s the business that is going down the drain.

“…I fear we’re deep into the self-fulfilling prophecy stage now. In many ways, newspapers are dying…because they’re dying. As their cash flow shrivels, owners aren’t willing, or able, to invest in their papers to arrest the rate of decline, if not reverse it. Each cut in editorial staffing and newshole makes the newspaper less useful and attractive, which makes the next round of cuts inevitable, and so on. Some newspapers entered their death spiral months ago.”

Paul Farhi, Don’t Blame the Journalism