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Column Old Media - don't fear New Media. Learn from it.

Newspaper man Alan Crosbie’s anti-’new media’ rhetoric smacks of a company under siege, writes Paul Quigley.

YESTERDAY Alan Crosbie, head of an Irish newspaper company, made a speech that was highly critical of “new media” – ie, that terrible thing you’re reading off a screen right now. The general idea was that newspapers produce quality information, and the internet produces “a tsunami of unverifiable data, opinion, libel and vulgar abuse”.

The rise of new media risked “abandoning that most precious resource, information, to chaos.” New media has the “capacity to destroy civil society and cause unimaginable suffering.” The rhetoric seemed more reminiscent of a North Korean press release than the conference on media diversity where Mr Crosbie was speaking. He even blamed new media for “those English riots.”

Perhaps, like North Korea, the company that Mr Crosbie heads feels under siege. Many older news companies are threatened as print sales and ad revenues decline, and the shortfall is difficult to make up online. There’s suffering in information era alright, though it’s the news companies, not society, that are feeling it.

Thankfully, many “old” media companies (to use Mr Crosbie’s categories) are adapting to the digital era, and developing effective ways to leverage their trusted brands, professional experience and talented journalists and editors. They’re mastering social distribution, opening up comments and discussion threads, developing loyal online followings, and opening up new revenue streams.

The alternative to this is to go bust, or agitate for free government money, as Mr Crosbie did. At the very least, the old media giants should spend their time understanding the new media environment rather than vilifying it. It’s an environment with very solid fact checking, that’s just as reputation-aware as the newspapers. It’s disaggregated, responsive, and fast.

New Media: Democratic and Careful with Facts

For example, when the Independent published the mistranslated ‘Magda’ story, it was mainly new media sources – TheJournal.ie, Broadsheet.ie – that reacted as the fact checkers and published the first Polish reactions. (On the radio, the John Murray show also helped correct the record.)

When the SOPA Ireland legislation appeared, it was these same outlets that published pieces that spread public awareness about the new law. It was through new media that an anti-SOPA campaign banded together and collected tens of thousands of signatures, and through new media that thousands of people alerted Ireland’s TDs that internet censorship was not a good idea.

In olden days, the entire Stop SOPA Ireland campaign would have been lucky to get a single letter on the Irish Times letter page. And that would have been it. That’s the time that Mr Crosbie longingly harkens back to.

Ireland’s New Media Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Let’s stop and look at the rest of this dangerous new media environment.

In my experience, it’s pretty damn good. I get better context on Ireland’s debt, housing market, and property skullduggery from NamaWineLake than the business pages of the broadsheets. For discussion and reporting on politics, there’s politics.ie, which has broken many political stories over the past few years, as has TheJournal.ie in the past 12 months. We’ve also got great reporting via Freedom of Information requests from thestory.ie, and reliable fact checking on the fuzzy facts spewed out by official Ireland from Maman Poulet. Similar fact checking continues on Twitter every day, driven by reporters, economists, and others.

For technology and startup business, there’s the newspaper of record for that sector, Silicon Republic, as well as several smaller tech sites. For areas like fashion and beauty there are blogs like What She Wears and beaut.ie.

It’s true that there’s a lot of mulch out there among the good tweets . But new media companies are solving this problem – it’s exactly what Dublin-based Storyful does. Our startup, NewsWhip, tracks which stories are spreading the fastest through the social web – it’s a democratic news filter edited by a billion people, deciding what to share on Facebook and Twitter.

New Media: Better at being Correct

New media sources will not destroy civil society and cause unimaginable suffering. And as TJ McIntyre points out in his IT law blog, they did not enable the London Riots. A detailed, data-driven Guardian study found that the riots were coordinated by text messages and private instant messages. Twitter was used to co-ordinate the cleanup.

Once again, a misconception (“Rioters on Twitter”) is corrected by data-driven new media. The Guardian has embraced a Digital First policy, and its future looks strong. In mid-2010, the Guardian was making an annual £40 million in online revenue – and that’s eons ago in new media terms. The Atlantic magazine recently announced that its online revenues were now exceeding its offline revenues.

Another great thing in new media – you can check all of what I’ve just said. Click on the hyperlinks, follow through. And if I got anything wrong, you can point it out in the comments.

It’s hard for the people with the printing presses to accept that they can’t any longer control the information we get each day. It’s particularly hard to imagine that their product – a daily fact sheet of what happened yesterday – might be just a temporary product of the information distribution technology of the 18th to 20th centuries.

There’s a lot to compete with online. But there’s only one solution to the problem – it’s not punitive legislation geared at new media. It’s producing a better new media product. I wish them good luck doing that.

Paul Quigley is co-founder of Newswhip.com.

Read other opinion pieces from Paul Quigley here>

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33 Comments
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    Mute Declan Doyle
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    Mar 5th 2016, 7:35 PM

    I f ucking hate the term”F-bomb” f ucking faux America moralistic f ucking shit.

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    Mute Al Ca
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    Mar 5th 2016, 7:40 PM

    Oh my!….you just dropped two!

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    Mute Niall Lonergan
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    Mar 5th 2016, 7:42 PM

    I know, right? It like totally drives me crazy too man.

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    Mute Daniel Wilson
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    Mar 5th 2016, 7:59 PM

    Woah, Declan’s got his priorities in order. What a dude.

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    Mute Al Ca
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    Mar 5th 2016, 7:39 PM

    Nice technique….now try it on her Daddy. ;)

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    Mute simon jones
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    Mar 5th 2016, 9:27 PM

    My 6 yr old was struggling to open her yoghurt and said “fu!#ing shitty lid”. My wife gave me look and said. “Wonder where she got that from!” I said “the fu##ing fridge you silly #@$$$#”

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    Mute Paige Turners
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    Mar 6th 2016, 6:56 AM

    Hilarious @Simon!!!!

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    Mute Gary Hoban
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    Mar 5th 2016, 7:33 PM

    Two words; wooden spoon

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    Mute Jason
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    Mar 5th 2016, 7:55 PM

    One word. Stop.

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    Mute Derek Walsh
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    Mar 5th 2016, 8:12 PM

    Horrifying that somebody would think of beating a four year old child for going through a perfectly normal phase.

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    Mute John Collins
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    Mar 5th 2016, 9:27 PM

    @Derek Walsh relax drama queen.

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    Mute Chewey Bacca
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    Mar 5th 2016, 9:33 PM

    Two words as one word “Waterboarding”
    Ah no only messing probably too severe a punishment – i think no words and a dirty eye while shaking your head – Have you tried using organised religion to your advantage here – bring her to mass and tell if she swears baby jesus will not be pleased and she might end up going to hell. Lots of options really.

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    Mute Suzie Sunshine
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    Mar 5th 2016, 8:34 PM

    Just don’t react , the more you react , the more attention they’re getting , the more they’ll keep doing it .

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    Mute Stephen Mc Elligott
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    Mar 5th 2016, 8:33 PM

    Our two year old went through this phase from hearing other kids, my family at it as well as myself when I become frustrated. I found the best thing to do is ignore it. If you give it a reaction children will feed on this as because they realise it gets a reaction …..whether positive or negative…. then they’ll keep doing it. Just ignore it and eventually it will go away. Also it’s important for us parents to look at ourselves as the problem. We need to be the ones to control our cursing because it’s unfair to discipline the child when we ourselves show double standards by continuing to use the word in the presence of our children. So try and get your husband to stop his cursing. I’m struggling to do the same.

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    Mute Richard Cheney
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    Mar 5th 2016, 9:29 PM

    I think parents should definitely look at themselves and how their behaviour negatively impacts on their children, especially when it comes to the dangers of religious indoctrination, like giving their children Biblically themed toys etc., it essentially ingrains a sense of ‘You’re different and / or better than ‘those’ other children.’

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    Mute Mark Byrne
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    Mar 5th 2016, 10:35 PM

    What’s a biblically themed toy? An Ark??

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    Mute Richard Cheney
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    Mar 5th 2016, 11:08 PM

    I was thinking more a Lego-themed crucifixion scene, but an Ark would be a viable option too I’m sure.

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    Mute Tom Burke
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    Mar 6th 2016, 7:47 AM

    Too right dickie.
    The danger is the kid might read you a story from the bible and he might convert you.

    What would you do then?

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    Mute Tom Burke
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    Mar 5th 2016, 8:54 PM

    Sadhbh

    Does she say things like

    “Mum, how the fxxk do I pronounce your name?

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    Mute John Collins
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    Mar 5th 2016, 9:26 PM

    Ignorant clown.

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    Mute Richard Cheney
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    Mar 5th 2016, 9:39 PM

    Tom’s a catholic, has issues with women, best to leave him be.

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    Mute Tom Burke
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    Mar 5th 2016, 10:59 PM

    Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

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    Mute Martin Woods
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    Mar 5th 2016, 9:14 PM

    Mommy I would like to pull the head off the cat ,ok darling as long as you only do it in front of us,after the cat lost its head little darling stopped,what a load of fu(k talk

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    Mute eamonn farrell
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    Mar 5th 2016, 8:12 PM

    i dont believe one effen word of that article !!

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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Mar 6th 2016, 11:03 AM

    “other bad words like hate and stupid” what the eff is wrong with them?

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    Mute Mark Byrne
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    Mar 5th 2016, 10:38 PM

    I used to think my wife had Tourette’s. Turns out I am a wan ker and she does want me to fxxx off!!

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    Mute Rashers Tierney
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    Mar 5th 2016, 8:41 PM

    sadbhbhhhhhhh. I don’t give a F*CK

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    Mute John Collins
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    Mar 5th 2016, 9:25 PM

    It’s only a word, a noise. You idiots gave it power by calling it bad language, which is a ridiculous idea in itself.

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    Mute Tom Burke
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    Mar 5th 2016, 9:35 PM

    John
    Can I take it then that you wouldn’t be bothered if I called you a wan*er?

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    Mute John Collins
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    Mar 5th 2016, 10:12 PM

    Wouldn’t bother me at all you ignorant pr!ck.

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    Mute Tom Burke
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    Mar 5th 2016, 10:59 PM

    Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha he

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    Mute molly coddled
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    Mar 6th 2016, 12:19 AM

    That’s exactly what it is john Collins, a word, an expression of exasperation.

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    Mute Charlie Fogarty
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    Mar 5th 2016, 7:48 PM

    No child should be thought to give zero f**ks. I wonder what the technique would be it it was the C-word?

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    Mute Paul Radburn
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    Mar 5th 2016, 8:27 PM

    Fu*king cu^t

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    Mute Austin Keegan
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    Mar 5th 2016, 9:23 PM

    Maith thú, Sadhbh. Coinnigh sí lasta.

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    Mute Tom Burke
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    Mar 5th 2016, 9:37 PM

    What the fu*k does that mean?
    I got the Sadhbdhbhd bit!

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    Mute David Hefner
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    Mar 6th 2016, 6:43 AM

    Jesus christ this fcuking North American PC attitude creeping in really pisses me off no end. Every one know the word is an integral part of the Irish vocabulary!

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    Mute Paige Turners
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    Mar 6th 2016, 6:57 AM

    Fu (k u

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    Mute Conor Steen
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    Mar 6th 2016, 12:53 AM

    What kind of people was she surrounded by to develop this. Slightly worrying

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    Mute postman pat
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    Mar 7th 2016, 12:42 AM

    Normal ones

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    Mute Jean Colgan Coleman
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    Mar 6th 2016, 12:00 AM

    Tom Burke or should I say Wan#er words are everything it’s not to be undermined

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    Mute postman pat
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    Mar 7th 2016, 12:36 AM

    “dropping the F-bomb” saying the F-word, it’s IrelAND for Fu*k sake

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    Mute Connell Murdock
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    Mar 6th 2016, 5:49 PM

    Everyone says curse words . Doesn’t mean there in a bad environment . Silly thinking.

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