DATELINE SYDNEY: For a couple of years I have been quoting, and gently poking fun, at Philip Meyer for his prediction that newspapers will disappear by 2043. It is the "fact" everyone is supposed to remember from his book, The Vanishing Newspaper.
But he started his contribution to the future of journalism conference here today by explaining how he has been "verballed" by none other than Rupert Murdoch.
Meyer, professor of journalism at the university of North Carolina, said that Murdoch, when addressing an American Society of Newspaper Editors' conference, mentioned a chart in his book about the decline in the number of adults reading papers every day and then "extended the line" to come up with the date April 2043. Ever since, said Meyer, that quote by Murdoch has been attributed to me.
I have to say that he didn't seem too exercised about it. He just seemed to want it on the record. Indeed, he went on to predict that the collapse of the newspaper form in the States may well happen before 2043. He had changed his mind because of the impact of Craigslist on advertising revenue, a factor not mentioned in his book.
"What we need now", he said during his presentation by satellite link, "is an editorial version of Craigslist... maybe that'll come through Jay Rosen's experiments with citizen journalism... we are going to have to reinvent journalism to fit that model."
(More on Jay later, following his comments to me after my last conference report). Anyway, Meyer then talked about his controversial suggestion that citizens journalists should be certified to attest to their competence. He does not believe this will violate first amendment rights because certification is not the same as licensing, which would be unacceptable.
He may have spent 60 years in journalism, but Meyer's ideas sounded fresh and invigorating compared to many who cling to a belief that the end of newspapers will spell the end of journalism. By contrast, Meyer sees the transparency of web-based journalism as ethically superior.
Perhaps his most telling point, reiterating Rosen (and Raymond Williams), is that we are witnessing the collapse of mass media. And that itself is an exciting prospect - for journalists and for society.
