The Cole Digest, March 15, 1995

Gentle Reader,

We're with Christopher J. Feola, the newsroom tech guy at the Waterbury Republican-American in Connecticut. He's talking about publishing "on the air" with personal digital assistants.

He asks if we think this is all pie in the sky? Feola says to consider these bits:

On Oct. 12, 1993, video and audio of a speech by President Clinton was broadcast live over the Internet, the first such broadcast, according to organizers.

Modern operating systems such as IBM's OS/2 are shipping with built-in support for multimedia and Internet access.

Digital audio is now regularly broadcast over the Internet.

More than 30 million computers are on-line with instant access to wire services, government data, the Library of Congress and almost anything else you can imagine.

So is this the end of journalism? Is this when we all get replaced by end users who can access all of cyberspace on their pocket computers?

Quite the contrary.

The electronic deluge of information is just that -- a deluge. While pocket computers, pagers and cellular modems give you access to the wires right at your table in a restaurant, do you really want the entire AP feed to pour over your screen? Who has time for that?

Users are going to need what readers and viewers have always needed: Someone to sort through developments and provide the latest version of a story, instead of 4000 duplicates; someone to find the beautiful or unusual; someone to focus the wild maelstrom of the electronic net.

You know, a journalist.

But this is no time to get smug. For years journalists have fought their own private battles, secure in the knowledge that competition in this field is limited, that no mom-and-pop operation could open up a metropolitan daily or television station.

That was true until now. Wayne MacPhail is blunt: "This is a completely different paradigm from the linear story. Newspapers need to change their wetware."

For non-chipheads, computers are hardware, programs are software and brains are wetware. It's not a compliment when techs tell you the problem is in your wetware.

MacPhail -- director of Southam Newspapers' InfoLab -- is one such messenger.

"Papers that don't get it, die," MacPhail said, "or let someone with a $5000 PC take their market away from them."

Whatever device delivers the data, newspapers need to assess what they can add to the information mix accessible through computers, MacPhail said in an interview.

"A newspaper's strength is local content," he said. "Newspapers can't be simply a monolithic one-way stream of communication. This wireless stuff and PDAs are really intriguing, but it raises the question of what value is added. A live stock ticker is great to have, but there is the question of analysis. Why buy a newspaper if it is not adding value to the data?

"Take movie reviews. Why should a reader listen to this person? What do they bring to the table? Is it years of experience critiquing movies? Or are they just tired of writing editorials?"

How to blend the old services with the new is McPhail's current focus.

"One of the key things I am trying to pay attention to are looking at things in terms of our core competency," he said. "We have a good on-the-ground news-gathering force. We can add value to national stories. We have to look at adding value in an electronic way. I don't think that's hard.

"The other good thing we do is provide a real sense of community -- something to talk about around the water cooler, which is something a personalized newspaper won't do.

"That is the key core competency for the future. When people have the ability in their hands and homes for broad-band communications, the key thing will be to facilitate a sense of community."

Onward.

\dmc

[THE COLE DIGEST is written by consultant David M. Cole, editor and publisher of the industry newsletter THE COLE PAPERS. The DIGEST is made available to PressLink members every Wednesday at no extra charge. Send comments by e-mail to cole@plink.geis.com. The COLE DIGEST is the property of The Cole Group, a California sole proprietorship. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission of The Cole Group is prohibited. Copyright (C) 1995, The Cole Group. Opinions expressed are those of The Cole Group, unless otherwise noted. [THE COLE PAPERS is a monthly newsletter devoting itself to technology, journalism and publishing. Subscriptions are $117 for 12 issues ($135 outside the U.S.). MasterCard, Visa and American Express cards are accepted. For more information, e-mail cole@plink.geis.com, call (415) 673-2424, fax (415) 673-2449 or write The Cole Group, 2590 Greenwich St., Ste. 9, San Francisco USA 94123-3333.]