Old Newspapers and Flying Cars

A frustrating and fascinating aspect of New Media is what it's doing to our old and beloved methods of mass communication.

And we have to face it at some point or another: Newspapers and Television (capitalized to stand for the institutions themselves) have lost their place at the top of the pyramid.

Sure, we all still dream of having ourselves or our stories carried on the Fourth Estate. But that's the old paradigm continuing to influence our egos. We can't shake the believe in that correctly-placed television ad or news story - and how it will focus so much attention on us or our issue that we'll need Starbucks House Blend IVs providing our energy to deal with it all.

Steve Pavlina, the enormously influential blogger, has a compelling blend of data and opinion on this in his post "New York Times vs. Digg - Strange New Media." From the article:

"While old media has feedback channels as well, the general perception is that they’re still too corporate and aren’t really listening. I don’t think many people genuinely believe that if you suggest a story to the New York Times via their web site that your idea will be forwarded to a writer for consideration within the next few hours. Yet blogs and social bookmarking sites give you that opportunity in abundance."

I started this post saying New Media is frustrating and fascinating. Frustrating because there's so much to learn, the pace of change and improvement in online capabilities sends us running for those Starbucks IVs, we don't know where it's all going, and we've just learned how to work the Old Media. Fascinating because... well, I can't speak for you, but I find it fascinating! Not least because so much is now in our hands.

Take a look at Liz Strauss's post "The Internet’s Not Finished, But Flying Cars Are Unlikely" at The Blog Herald. I think it's a good follow-up to the Brave New Media post, as it gets us thinking about the different dimensions our communications can take.

And for that headache and panic slowly building when faced with all this new stuff? A couple of Tylenols and some time in a quiet room. That works better for me than coffee!