AS flowing libraries, movies, sports highlights, music, and friends converge on your phone, a discomfiting poser needs to be properly addressed. Is there a need, still, to publish and, crucially, read newspapers? Will digitalisation finally nudge the old Print out of business?
After all, “the future is now” mantra of newspapers being spiked out first appeared on our screens in 1998. The New Straits Times was ushering its journalists to classrooms to be taught “post-Internet reporting”. We were buoyant, nonetheless. Travelling the world, and learning new perspectives from varied sources. A number of us, NST journalists, attended the 12-week course at the Thomson Foundation in Cardiff. The Print would take the form of daily news magazines with brilliant journalism, biting commentaries, dazzling analyses!
Some 21 years on, a thriving, fulfilling post-online journalism remains a work in progress. Perhaps your phone is just too quick. The latest news cycle could pop up any minute, condemning the 8am story to the archives. Or, perhaps journalism could apportion some of the blame in the direction of pockets of compliant tendencies preceding the last general election.
No, really, that represented mere blips and moments in a journey. Our journalism has never been perfect anyway. Happily, there has since been a convergence of political change, technology and business realities. Businesses must grow and advertise. They have experimented with a multitude of newer platforms, as “experts” inform them the Print is in a downward spiral.
This is evidently a flawed contention. An assumption.
At this point, this reporter shall digress before arriving at the clincher arguments in a moment. As assumptions go, the most potent being everything that should be read has indeed been devoured in the course of 24 hours. This, when you are romancing the phone essentially to answer WhatsApp (WA) messages and delete the burgeoning clutter thrown in by your many WA groups.
At times, these are your new permanent address. Never mind that this and the furious pace of life has enabled some to target WA groups to rouse sentiments and win arguments in a split second. Exactly why journalistic integrity and ethics must decisively rush to the rescue.
Just as a breakthrough appears, a blocker pops up. Parallel to the fate of newspapers is this established argument that visuals, graphics and one liners have elbowed full-blown passages and articles out of contention. Distressingly, journalism is decidedly “media shy”. Traditionally, newspapers, television stations and online sites are not too keen about promoting themselves, discussing media issues or launching a campaign to upgrade journalism into a career of choice.
Malaysian journalism is not sidelined or ignored. Sites report impressive growth. That has not, however, earned journalism a bigger stake in the viral phenomenon.
This reporter returned to the newsroom on Jan 2 after a four-year hiatus. Content developers and managers spend more uninterrupted time on their screens compared to say 1999. The young are fast and technologically adept. The newspaper is printed sooner. The sports editor, a warrior, sidled away politely as the 5pm news meeting was proceeding still. He had presented the angle of his Manchester City-Liverpool story and other narratives. There is no time to waste. By 10pm having congratulated ourselves for a rather nice Page 1, another big news break seems to be developing. Apologies for sharing a dreary routine. It is an illustration of dynamism and potential.
So, the young will not pick up the Hard Copy? They edit their own videos. The young indeed possess the ability to viral content. Yet, they demand quality and verified content. That's the function of journalism. We should inspire the young to pursue journalism courses. Journalism will have to market its products with zest. Get the nation to invest more in quality journalism, not by seeking government funding but by presenting the Hard Copy plus digital platforms as a powerful tool for business growth.
The Hard Copy must thrive partly because the national conversation is all over. Need to bring back focus. The fragmented media landscape presents an opportunity as readers search for the best. Also, we are too engrossed with our phones. Soon there will be a movement led by enlightened housewives to confiscate phones at family dinners.
The Hard Copy is ultimately a solution to the unending search for top quality. A 60-minute mental exercise that frees you up for the other pursuits. Maybe get back to bigger screens, desktops and tablets to enjoy 4K videos, including those to be brought to you by NST TV. Avoid straining your eye and outlook.
Finally, this newspaper, the most storied around here, has the appetite for the battle ahead. And we want you, dear readers, to talk to us more. If you find yourself increasingly crafting a four-paragraph comment in the WA group or Facebook, add two additional paragraphs and send it in as a Letter to the Editor. More readers will get to read your thoughts.
Criticise us for all our imperfections. Better still, goad us on to produce the very product the nation is sorely missing. We absolutely aspire to be expansive and influential.
The writer is NST group editor