What Is The Solution? You Tell Us

By Trace Sharp

A journalism great once said these words:

Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions. – Edward R. Murrow

That one sentence speaks volumes. We live in a time where we hear the buzzwords of the moment. Social networking, media strategists, online gurus and the list goes on.

But what does it all mean?

Granted, blogging and social media such as Twitter, Facebook or even the bright and shiny tackiness of MySpace have changed the world of communication. Some of the keys right now for media comes down to how to monetize our product and embrace the new tools available to us. If you are a journalist, you are going to have to embrace video. If you don’t know how and technology scares the pants off of you, you are going to have to get through your issues and move forward.

Why? Because as Ferris Bueller said “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it.”

I would like to see some of readers write feature articles for NewsTechZilla that focuses on the solutions and not slogans, how with the speed that the Internet has changed our lifestyles what tools and disciplines are they using to deal with the speed of sound our entire industry is moving and I’d also like to hear suggestions for what you guys are dealing with. Give us your ideas and Scott and I will check it out if we don’t know the answer.

Are you a journalist? Do you consider yourself a citizen journalist who is an activist? Do you own a business that you are trying to market on the Web? What do you like better: Twitter, Friendfeed, Skype or new applications that might be new to us? What technological tools are you using on your online product? How are you branding yourself? Have you lost your job and what are you going to do? What video software are you using?

Slogans are great but they aren’t the solution all the time.

What solutions do you see as we move through this transitional time of journalism?

Let’s hear your voice.

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One Comment

Paul Chenoweth said February 9, 2009 | Permalink

I would begin with a new slogan that applies to technologies, applications, and new media in general: “Be aware of what you don’t know, but don’t allow that awareness to overwhelm your desire to learn.” I’ll take a stab at creating a scale to determine ‘where you are (technologically) and where you need to go (new skills to master)’. From my experience in leading workshops,many people are surprised by just how much they do know (their comfort zones) but have never quite connected the dots to determine what they need (embracing discomfort).

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Newscoma » Blog Archive » Various Sundry Things on February 9, 2009

[...] Two things are happening at NewsTechZilla. First out of the gate is input. Go here and see what we are talking about. Second of all, we have a giveaway. With conditions (evil smirk) If you haven’t checked out Seth’s latest book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, it’s a great read. If you want a copy, leave a comment or link back to this post and I’ll randomly select someone to send a copy to. Well, I can’t promise it will be completely random…and I’ll need you to promise to give it to someone else when you are finished with it. Deal? You have a few days…I’ll place the order later this week! [...]

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