The future of news

It has been suggested that 68% of journalism in the future will consist of people sitting around discussing the future of journalism. I've certainly been at, or spoken at, many events on this theme in the last couple of years.

I certainly don't think the debate around the concept of 'citizen journalism' will end any time soon. After the news:rewired event in January 2010, I pointed out that when the industry still publishes stories of breath-taking inaccuracy, with professionals of this quality, who needs 'citizen journalist' enemies? On a brighter note, I also wrote about 'the curation gap', and what journalism can learn from "Citizen History".

"The tyranny of chronology" was a presentation I gave at the #newsinnovation unconference in London. Amongst other things, it looked at how to reinvent news metadata and production tools to facilitate more efficient digital journalism. The day had a lot of focus on technology, and during it I made a video clip of Linda Kennedy asking "where was the 'editorial viewpoint'?"

Another presentation I gave on a similar theme was as part of a panel at the first London Linked Data meet-up, entitled "Linked Data and the future of journalism". I also covered the 2009 JEEcamp event in Birmingham for The Guardian Media PDA blog.

The SLA Europe organised event "Free vs Fee - the Future of News" was another evening I spent pondering the future, as was the MTM London round-table session "Do online newspapers have a future in a Digital Britain". Even though I think their implementation left something to be desired, I'm one of the people who praised Johnston Press for at least experimenting with their paywall future, rather than just talking about it.

One of the biggest obstacles facing news organisations across the globe to charging for news is that, well, news is global, and there is an overabundance of supply of not just the editorial content, but of the advertising inventory. B.A. Robertson can teach the news industry something about the price of scarcity.

And I still find myself pondering: "free newspapers or free wifi - which appeals more?".