Jack Shafer has a great story in Slate describing the many high-tech experiments by newspapers over the years. They haven’t ignored the web, by any means. But in the end, they’re failing. Why? Schafer writes:
“From the beginning, newspapers sought to invent the web in their own image by repurposing the copy, values, and temperament found in their ink-and-paper editions. Despite being early arrivals, despite having spent millions on manpower and hardware, despite all the animations, links, videos, databases, and other software tricks found on their sites, every newspaper website is instantly identifiable as a newspaper website. By succeeding, they failed to invent the web.”
I can’t help but draw the obvious connection here: every local TV website is instantly identifiable as a local TV website. And local TV has failed to invent online video. Or even come close.
