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Values Day

The Internet Is Destroying Democracy. What You Can Must Do. Chris Herbert. Values Day. June 27, 2008. THIS IS WHAT I’M GOING TO TALK ABOUT. Democracy Needs Newspapers. Democracy requires a free and independent press. Newspaper journalists are the backbone of the press.

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Values Day

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  1. The Internet Is Destroying Democracy What You Can Must Do Chris Herbert Values Day June 27, 2008

  2. THIS IS WHAT I’M GOING TO TALK ABOUT • Democracy Needs Newspapers • Democracy requires a free and independent press • Newspaper journalists are the backbone of the press • Newspapers Are Dying • Newspapers are in danger of going out of business • Who will watch the Watchmen? • The Internet Can Save Democracy • The Chris Herbert 5 Step Action Plan

  3. NEWSPAPERS ARE THE BEDROCK OF DEMOCRACY • …and journalists have fought corruption for hundreds of years • The USA was founded on the idea of a free press… • Watergate • Walter Reed • Abuse In the Catholic Church • Anne Arundel County Fire Chief Dismissed After Bumbling Reporter Stumbles On Corruption Story1 • “Democracy does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority to set brush fires in people’s minds. • Samuel Adams • Here’s the Pattern… • Institutions Do “Stuff” Most television reporters read the newspaper over the air, and send a cameraman out for some footage. • Newspaper Journalists Tell Us About “Stuff” • “Stuff” Changes 1 Some liberties taken with headline. See Baltimore Sun archives at http://tinyurl.com/4mvan2

  4. Higher readership segments • Circulation declines are accelerating • And young people are getting news from other sources (if at all) NEWSPAPERS ARE IN TROUBLE: READERSHIP IS DECLINING • Weekday newspaper readership by age group • 1999 • 1987 • 1967 • 18-24 • 25-34 • 35-44 • 45-54 • 55-64 • 65+ Source: Journalism.org; Department of Education; Simmons; NAA Facts About Newspapers 2000

  5. 10 Consumer Surplus NEWSPAPERS ARE IN TROUBLE: CLASSIFIED REVENUE IS EVAPORATING • Typical Newspaper Company • 100% • Circulation • 20% • 100% • 100% • 25% • Classified Ads • 35% • “We are just trying to give people a break.” • Craig Newmark • Craigslist.org • 30% • 20% • 0% • 40% • 40% • Display Ads • 40% • 10% • 5% • Online • 20% • 1% • 10% • Other • 4% • 2015 • 2007 • 2000 • Newspapers?

  6. NEWSPAPERS ARE IN TROUBLE: STOCKS ARE DOWN ~75% OVER LAST 5 YEARS • Stock Price History – Last 5 Years • Gannett, New York Times, McClatchy, Media General • 75% • Most experts agree that the major metropolitan dailies will be the first to go out of business. Source: Google Finance

  7. WHO WILL WATCH THE WATCHMEN? • The analogy doesn’t work great. But it does give me a chance to plug one of my favorite books • Plug: The Watchmen, by Alan Moore, is an excellent read. • It is the only graphic novel on Time Magazine’s Top 100 English Language novels from 1923 to the present. • And it’s coming soon to a theater near you… • Without journalists, who will check government corruption? • Who will inform the people? • “The title, therefore, refers to the idea of superheroes, police, the government, or any group of people who assume the responsibility of protecting others from themselves.”

  8. 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 THE CHRIS HERBERT 5 STEP ACTION PLAN • Pass On The Good Stuff • Stay Informed • Take The Power Back • Create Original Content • Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

  9. 1 STAY INFORMED • Use RSS Feeds to stay up to date on your favorite stuff • Content Creators • Feed Readers • Your own personal customized newspaper • Aggregates content from all your favorite sources • Offline access for airplane reading • “Share” feature creates “The Internet, As Edited by Chris Herbert” • Where do I start? • Sign up for Google Reader • Subscribe to a few feeds. See appendix for a list of recommendations • Google stuff you’re interested in, and just look for the RSS symbol See http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/index.htmlfor an excellent description of how RSS feeds work.

  10. 2 PASS ON THE GOOD STUFF • Where do I start? Google Juice • We may not be able to count on journalists to edit for us for much longer • The best doesn’t always rise to the top. We need to give it a push • Search is king on the Internet • Quote about Google Juice • It is our responsibility to link to and talk about the best stuff, so it rises to the top • Best product reviews on the Internet (way more than just books) • Restaurants, shopping, nightlife With great power comes great responsibility… • Vote content to the top • Excellent tool for sharing content in your network

  11. 3 TAKE THE POWER BACK • Democracy depends on the free flow of information • 2 of my favorite websites, Kayak & Zillow, are providing information to consumers that is actually useful and actionable. • Others? • Best site ever for planning travel • Great site for stalking your coworkers • Handy text message feature provides an instant estimate of a home’s value (whether or not it’s for sale) • 1 of many tools we used last year to sell our condo – saved us a $12,000 broker’s fee

  12. 4 CREATE ORIGINAL CONTENT • Why should I blog? • Responsibility to share ideas • Society is becoming increasingly isolated…most meaningful interaction is happening online • What about privacy? • Don’t share anything you wouldn’t mind reading about on the front page of the WSJ • Where do I start? • Easiest platform to learn; not flexible • Astronauts are blogging (@marsphoenix) • You could get a job (@ryankuder) • Egyptian jails probably aren’t fun (@jamesbuck) • Most flexible platform, requires some tinkering

  13. 100 • 5 PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS • Obama Feb ‘08 Fundraising Transactions1 • The Internet is transforming politics • 100% = • 28 million • 90% of Obama’s Feb ’08 fundraising transactions came from donors who gave <$100 • 10% • >$100 • Fundraising efforts are increasingly fueled by individual donors • 40% • $25 - $100 • Sites like meetup.com are facilitating grassroots efforts • 50% • < $25 • It’s never been easier to engage in the debate • Feb ‘08 • 4 Years Is A Long Time! • Get involved. 1 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/us/politics/20obama.html?ex=1361250000&en=b49d183460cc591c&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

  14. Other Stuff I Didn’t Really Address • Shouldn’t I be worried about privacy? • Anonymity & Accountability • How Awesome is Wikipedia? • Why don’t people use our office blog?

  15. The Internet Is Destroying Democracy What You Can Must Do Chris Herbert Values Day June 27, 2008

  16. A FEW OF MY FAVORITE RSS FEEDS • Newspaper feeds • http://feeds.feedburner.com/EditorAndPublisher-BreakingNews • http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper.xml • http://feeds.feedburner.com/NewspaperDeathWatch • http://www.poynter.org/media/rss/romenesko.xml • http://feeds.feedburner.com/BuzzMachine • TV • http://feeds.feedburner.com/MultichannelBreakingNews • Humor • http://feeds.theonion.com/theonion/daily • http://feeds.theonion.com/theonion/photos • http://feeds.feedburner.com/leveragedsellout/lCfw • http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/index.rdf • http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/feed/ • http://forksplit.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default • http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSecretDiaryOfSteveJobs • Other Cool Stuff • http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/ZcLO • http://lifehacker.com/software/top/index.xml • http://feeds.feedburner.com/Photojojo • http://feeds.portfolio.com/portfolio/oddnumbers • http://rssfeeds.s3.amazonaws.com/goldboxhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/Footnotedorg • Tech/Internet • http://feeds.feedburner.com/AVc • http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/rss2.xml • http://blog.pmarca.com/index.rdf • http://feeds.feedburner.com/37signals/beMH • http://feeds.feedburner.com/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider • Media • http://blogs.wsj.com/informedreader/feed/ • http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/MediaandAdvertising.xml • http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/cccZ • Personal Finance • http://feeds.feedburner.com/thesimpledollar • Economics • http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/atom.xml • http://robertghansen.blogspot.com/atom.xml • Stamford • http://managermom.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default • http://feeds.feedburner.com/AlwaysHomeAndUncool • http://blogstamford.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default • http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/atom.xml • http://danmalloy.wordpress.com/feed • http://www.mrstamford.com/feed • http://feeds.feedburner.com/StamfordTalk

  17. A FEW STARTER FEEDS FOR TWITTER • Source: Silicon Alley Insider • @nytimes: Breaking news from The New York Times' homepage. Also specialized streams for world and national headlines, business news, sports, arts, science, etc. • @techmeme: Top headlines from Techmeme, the pulse of tech news, analysis, and, um, other stuff. There's also the Techmeme Firehose if you don't want to miss anything. • @amazon: The unofficial Amazon book finder bot. Follow @amazon and send it a direct message with a book's title or ISBN. It will message you back the price on Amazon -- a good way to see if a book is cheaper at Amazon or your local book store. • @theonion: The fake news -- often more interesting and less depressing than the real news! Also includes links to their audio and (excellent) video reports. • @new_music: New music for music snobs, maintained by NYT technologist Michael Young. A feed of Pitchfork and Metacritic reviews "over 7ish." • @lotd: The lyric of the day -- a feed of song lyrics -- started up by Twitter investor (and avid Tweeter) Fred Wilson. • @shakeshack: Madison Square Park's Shake Shack is known for its burgers, shakes -- and its line. "Got a report on Shake Shack line length? Looking share a table with other hungry Shackburger-loving Twits? Send an update to @shakeshack." • @alleyhour: Like @shakeshack, but for Silicon Alley-types looking for after-work drinking buddies. "Organize impromptu drinks in NYC." • @alleyfeed: Self promotion! The latest headlines from Silicon Alley Insider, automatically fed via Twitter. Also follow @alleyinsider for more select updates and information. http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/5/ten_news_information_twitter_feeds_you_should_follow

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