This is a sad day for some in media and serves as a proxy for the new interactive world in which we live.
Generating headlines and selling papers and carelessly feeding the monster can come with a price.
A great institution has been shuttered. Talented and loyal and hardworking people have lost their jobs. This is a human drama and is very emotional and sad.
Value has been destroyed. Reputations have been lost. Scandal is now on the other foot.
People are being jailed. There was no shame on the part of this media property when it came to generating first in news; they are now paying a huge price for that ethos.
All because a media property wanted to be “first” with news or wanted to become a part of the story. Someone in the media had a personal agenda against a citizen or a politician or a celebrity. Editors and head line writers are human bloggers. They have agendas too sometimes. Papparazi love to have fun with their subjects. Some blame photographers for the death of a princess in the UK as you all know.
28,200,000 results here. Parse these numbers and interpret them however you want. It isn’t good though, is it? These are the last digital footprints in the sand for this media property which was once the world’s most circulated newspaper. It once had a circulation of 8.5 million!
There is a line that can’t be crossed now in media. It has been established now by the authorities. Upper management will now be vigilant in NOT allowing writers to just make stuff up or do illegal things all in the name of journalism or selling papers or generating pixels.
I think this is a watershed moment in media. I also think it is a sad day indeed all around.
Click here and watch in the future as lawyers clean up all details on the go forward. This story will continue and the monster will feed for quite a while. The monster eats its own now.
RIP News of the World Indeed.