Newspapers are setup to generate, filter and talk about new ideas - they just happen to be ones around the concept of what we think of as news.
This role of meme collectors / distributors seems awfully close to what a lot of people are thinking conventional ad agencies will become - collectives who immerse themselves in "the stream", picking up memes relevant to the clients they represent, and developing conversations to create visibility in the digital world.
Perhaps as well as mining his databases here - Murdock should also consider whether he couldn't re-tool his businesses to become ad agencies.
It occurred to me that the reason I don't buy papers anymore isn't because of the format, or the time lag in between the news occurring and them reporting it. I have grown apart from newspapers, because essentially I don't trust them. Or to put it another way. I've found a source of news I trust more
I've begun to call this lack of trust the "right to lie" - the permission the existing system gives media (and brands) to tell fibs. We now live in a society where the practice is so endemic, it is so widespread, we are no longer conscious of it. The theory of the big lie, really has been borne out in practice. Here
Deep down, we know Starbucks doesn't really care about its employees or those who grow its coffee. They are a PLC with a responsibility to their shareholders. This isn't a matter of debate. The law of the land, states this explicitly.
We know Jen hasn't really just broken up, with whoever for the 6th time. The global media conglomerate who report the important news, probably owns the hotel room in which they split up, likely manages both of them and is almost certainly going to make a film in which the 2 of them will star.
The trouble is, that brand communication, has become so reckless with the truth. So comfortable with telling outrageous lies, we now struggle to reconcile our organisms' natural internal bullshit monitoring system shouting "this is nonsense" with the reality of the lie.
Is it then, that newspapers are simply the latest casualties of a return to the mean - a return to being human? En-masse, we appear to be making a collective judgment that those who write independently are more truthful, more human?
If this is the case, from Murdock's perspective, the simplest solution to his woes would be to simply sack everyone who is left (except the commissioning editors of each major section) and print the best blogs as a daily paper.
