This Sunday morning I listened to the ABC describing blow by blow the death of Australia’s newspapers as we now know them.
Faced with the Internet the Editors and Directors of Fairfax and News Ltd closed their minds against the Web … a mistake that is now leading to their corporate demise.
I sent a copy of my above letter (LINK) to both the Examiner and the Mercury. Neither saw fit to publish … but there is an alternative to the letters editors who act as gatekeepers to public opinion, and in my opinion, take an editorial stance.
They will not publish many letters for fear of upsetting the few remaining advertisers be they, local councils, a political party, or even the Government; as a result they have left the field open to others to invade their operations and destroy their influence.
How, through his internet publication Tasmanian Times has Lindsay Tuffin, a one man publishing band, become the cutting edge of public influence in Tasmania … all at a minimum cost, with virtually no advertisers and no staff?
The key is the lack of a staff and costly printing presses. The web and a facilitator such as Lindsay and TT provide literate and interested everyday Tasmanians with a place to write with editorial freedom, pro bono, on current issues of note.
This cheap and instant platform gives others reason to comment both for and against so as to give thoughtful balance to the argument.
This reflects local grassroot opinions … all with the click of a mouse as real people may become instantly involved and their voices heard.
A high tech low-cost form of competition with which today’s newspapers cannot defeat.
For newspapers with their costs and delays in publishing, the rivers of gold have dried up, the printing presses are starting to rust.
The Examiner and Mercury will be gone in two years as the computer literate grow to love the power of that instant access to the Web which they may personally use for creating and shaping public opinion.
Tasmanian daily newspapers are about to be consigned to the fish and chip shop of history.
