Journalism's New Age

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its last print edition today. From now on, it will be an online-only newspaper.

It's going to be an adventure, writes columnist Joel Connelly. "If the stars align properly and with a quality product, Seattle will show the way to a new model for journalism of the written word."

It's hard for me to know what to say about this development. I have a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in journalism. I worked in newspaper newsrooms for many years. I even taught journalism students for a few years. This is a big change, quite different from anything my professors — or I — ever imagined.

I'm inclined to agree with copy editor Glenn Ericksen, who said, "I'm sad the print product will go away. It's the end of an era, and I'm not sure it's a good thing."

Ericksen made another point, one that I, as a former copy editor, have thought about frequently. He told reporters Dan Richman and Andrea James that the Web "lowers the standard of literacy all around. Who needs copy editors on the Web?"

In this world of instant news and instant gratification, perhaps old-fashioned standards — proper spelling, good grammar, fact-checking — that may seem quaint to many readers may no longer have much importance. From what I can gather, non-journalists will play a significant role in this new online-only venture. While they may have access to news events that trained journalists may not, who will check their work before it is posted online? Who will correct their spelling errors — and, believe me, I see many of those in comments that are posted on my blog and elsewhere on the internet? Who will confirm their facts? Who will take a stand for quality? I'm not sure anyone will — and I'm not sure that's a good thing, either.

I guess that is the kind of thing that only time will tell.