Do the newspapers understand new media?

I'm not sure the newspapers understand new media. Their industries are failing because they refuse to leverage their position to crowdsource and use new technology - for profit. The papers command the respect and have the capital needed to take positions as leaders in multimedia journalism. Instead, they flounder in analysis paralysis of monetization models, failing to commit to their core competency: engaging the readers.

After the Northwest Arkansas Times wrote a piece criticizing me for using Twitter in Council meetings, I thought their opinion deserved a response. I can only hope the editors of the Benton County Daily Record, who republished the original editorial, will publish this letter as well. (And then the ADG published Yet Another Editorial on Twitter, but that one was a bit better.)

A note for the papers: I'll remove this text and replace it with links to your own website when this appears in print. Fair is fair.

Governing in Good Faith

Twitter in Council meetings?! Before reacting and misleading your readers, you should have taken some time to learn what its being used for. Most people think Twitter is just another way for gibbering young people to escape their present surroundings, and you played into that misconception in your recent editorial on my practice of using Twitter during meetings. I'm sure when many Times subscribers read your description of what I was doing, they were a bit shocked, if not disapproving.

As Editors, you haven't given your readers a fair explanation of Twitter or its uses.

Read the rest of the letter at the NWA Times website