What is happening is, in short, a revolution in the way young people are accessing news. They don't want to rely on the morning paper for their up-to-date information. They don't want to rely on a God-like figure from above to tell them what's important. And to carry the religion analogy a bit further, they certainly don't want news presented as gospel.
Rupert Murdoch, that's who. The quote is from a speech to the American Society of News Editors in which it transpires that Murdoch has been reading 'Abandoning the news' - a report by Merrill Brown on the news gathering habits of the young American aged 18-34. (Print down, internet up.)
It is a theme that has been kicked around by the handful of journalists who actually get the internet for a while now, at least in the US. But the fact that the Digger has finally caught on is, to use hack speak, 'a moment'. Man with very big bucks takes blogging seriously shock.
There is a definite renaissance of tech exuberance at News Corp, which has brought in McKinsey, the management consultancy behemoth, to advise on internet strategy. (Via FT.com)
What strange fruit will be borne, the blog wonders, when the rich soil of News Corp is sown with tales of citizen journalism, fertilised by McKinsey and watered with words of enthusiasm from Murdoch himself. Sun reader blogs? WikiFoxNews?
Interesting.
