layout: post title: Newspapers See Danger in Text Messaging created: 1084124103 categories:

• Personal Publishing

International editors and publishers warned Friday that nontraditional communications—such as cell phone text messages—are rapidly outflanking radio, television, and print media because of their immediacy and proximity to the public. eWeek: Newspapers See Danger in Text Message

And this is a surprise? I see the decline of print media as Darwin-istic: they have for the most part proven unable to adapt to the times, and so are headed for extinction. I have great respect for the written word, and count reading as one of my main pastimes, but newspapers add little value. They cover breaking stories much slower than TV or radio, large parts of each issue are of no or little interest to me, and they have very limited amounts of interaction or feedback built in.

I don't see radio or television in quite as much danger — they are "richer" forms of media, and I think that richer media will be the winner. Just like text information on the web is richer than print media. We're going to be doing some experiments with audio and video content on Urban Vancouver, and maybe even some radio. Yes, that's right — micro-broadcasting!