2012: “You don’t have to be a fucking psychic to see it”

2012: “You don’t have to be a fucking psychic to see it”

Excuse me my French in the headline — but that is literally the last line of the comic strip above. I know the majority of readers can read Finnish, but those who cannot: the reference here is to the deals Sanoma Magazines Finland is trying to push thru. Loyal to the spirit of doing business in that company (Sanoma Corpo­ration) they mailed these one-sided “we want everything / we will not pay for it / should the shit hit the fan, you are respon­sible” ‑deals as a Xmas presents to the people — sorry: not people but freelancers — working for them.

Instead of “Seasons Greetings” or “Merry Xmas” the message was: “Sign or you will not work for us. This is not negotiable”

Basically the content was the same as discussed e.g in my blog post What IF?

And by loyal I mean: Sanoma News (same corpo­ration) did the same last summer in mid-June, knowing that everybody was going off to their annual holiday — i.e. just to make sure all the lawyers who might offer some counseling were not in the office (see blog post).

Aller (another publisher) missed the holidays two years ago, but timed it accurately so that the union lawyers were on holiday… (see blog post)

I mean, it would be funny coinci­dence… but it is not. It just another display of the ruthless attitude so prevalent presently.

Now: you think I will now whine and whine about how unfair this is… No, I am not. I try very hard not to.

All I ask you to do is to keep your eyes open and think for a while: is this really where we want our society to go? Seriously think about it.

Obviously, do not expect The National Daily (i.e. HS — part of Sanoma Corpo­ration) to tell you about this — but look elsewhere for infor­mation. A good intro­ductory article could be e.g.  this one  (Suomen Freelance Journalistit).

2011 — looking back

It has been my tradition to sort of summarize the past year and more impor­tantly — to sort of try to see what the future will bring (ge’ez, how original… ;-) ) in the coming year. And then, at the end of the year, to see if my predic­tions were at all in the ballpark of what really happened…

Two years ago I said 2o10 would be remem­bered as the “year of the tablet”. Rumors were out about something called “iSlate” — which turned out to be an iPad — and I said it would totally rock our world. Do I have to say today: “What did I tell you…”

Year ago I said that 2011 would be remem­bered as the year when our legacy media either chose to understand what the revolution was all about — or slowly fade out to black by staying in their present state of denial, saying that the printed paper was the focus and the future to be…

Today we are living the first weeks of January 2012. We have one working daily news iPad app worth mentioning. Even that one has serious flaws (I have criticized it in some earlier posts: no social sharing, it requires constant online access for images do display, it’s extremely heavy, etc.) — but that is not my point today.

Point is: there is one such thing.

The others I have seen in this country… well, they do not really classify as iPad app’s, they are merely PDF-presen­ta­tions of their printed product, simply generated by the CMS. Giving really no added value for the reader — at least no value anybody in their right mind should pay for. I have a bit of a dilemma starting to name them and pointing how bad they really are.… as both members of our family make their bread from this industry ;-)

But frankly: they suck.… (damn, I have to learn to control myself).

Seriously: maybe a good indicator of their value could be that when the University of Tampere published the first piece of their research on the journalism for the iPad/touch devices, they only counted one (HS) as an valid app. and disre­garded the others as not such.

So, looking back now to 2011… I am sad to see the road the legacy print chose — as they went with the “let’s make our business more effective” ‑model by cut, cut,cut…

Staying in the comfort zone is nice (yes, that’s why it is called “the comfort zone”) — but it is very short sighted.

I will not argue this one further, but simply quote the most read blog in the world. Something to think about:

It’s painful, expensive, time-consuming, stressful and ultimately pointless to work overtime to preserve your dying business model.

All the lobbying, the lawsuits, the ad campaigns and most of all, the hand-wringing, aren’t going to change anything at all. In fact, instead of postponing the outcome you fear, they probably accelerate it.

The history of media and technology is an endless series of failed rearguard actions as industry leaders attempt to solidify their positions on a bed of quicksand.

Again and again the winners are indivi­duals and organiza­tions that spot oppor­tu­nities in the next thing, as opposed to those that would demonize, margi­nalize or illegalize (is that a word?) it. Breaking systems that benefit your customers is dumb. Taking money from lobbyists to break those systems is dumber still.”

— Seth Godin (in his blog) 18.1.2012 -

What we were seeing 2011 — and what we will be seeing in the legacy print now in 2012 — i.e demon­stra­tions, plummeting circu­lation, lay-offs, forced early retire­ments, forced and aggressive rip-off deals to the creative talent …all this resulting a level of content approaching that of Berlusconi’s Italy — all of this afore mentioned is a result of behavior Seth Godin describes as ” painful, expensive, time-consuming, stressful and ultimately pointless”.

Let me take one sentence from that lengthy Godin quote:

An endless series of failed rearguard actions as industry leaders
attempt to solidify their positions on a bed of quicksand.”

Industry leaders…” The guys in ties. They know what they are doing, right?

No, the whole point is (should be clear by now): no they don’t.

2012: the brave new world…

Trouble is: in Finland we have this concept of “herran pelko” — i.e. sort of innate code of morals that the leaders are always right — I mean, that’s why they are the leaders, right? To lead us to the best possible outcome. And you should not question that, it is not correct behavior.

Even if what they say makes no sense at all.

I was reminded of this when I heard Mrs. Riitta Pollari, the CEO of Sanoma Magazines of Finland talk the other night about these “sign-or-you-are-out” ‑deals her company is pushing so aggres­sively. Among all the other things she let out of her mouth was: “It’s a fact that it is up to us — that is Sanomat — to try and keep up this status quo and prevent this coming some wild jungle” (My trans­lation, direct quote can be heard e.g. here at c. 17:20)

I beg your pardon?

A thing my sister always used to say : “And who the fuck died and made you Grace Kelly?”

(And please note, that is no personal disrespect or foul language directly to mrs. Pollari — but merely severely questioning the values her company presents).

But Sanomat as the guardian of values and rules of the internet?

We Are in Good Hands

Anyway, this brought to mind all kinds of things what I have heard these media CEO’s letting out of their mouths just this past fall:

Mikael Penti­käinen ( editor-in-chief of Helsingin Sanomat) saying how Journa­lis­ti­liitto (National Union of Journa­lists) cannot represent freelancers as they are not “people” — they are “incor­po­rated”.

All the material worth mentioning in the internet comes from the legacy print” — said Jaakko Rauramo (head of board Sanoma News) in an interview — in Helsingin Sanomat, naturally.

Thus the content of BBC or Yle — or Uusi Suomi for that matter — does not count as worth mentioning?

Jouko Jokinen (editor-in-chief of Aamulehti) — after Johanna Vehkoo published her book “Stop the press / Paino­koneet Seis” — with a very dismissive tone in the main editorial of AL (24th October, if I remember correctly) said how “she really should have talked to people who understand these matters” and that “little crises is just good for the whole industry”. And how he has “so much faith in the new printing press which Alma-Media is just building and which he can see in the morning mist when he takes the train…” (something along those lines).

Then his (i.e. Jokinen’s) boss, mr. Kai Telanne who is the CEO of whole Alma-Media four days later in MTV3 news said that Alma-Media will in the future go “digital first” and that c. 3000 jobs might be in the line of fire… So the “sleepy new printing press in the morning mist thru the train window” ‑imagery kind of lost some of its luster right there.

And if not this was not confusing enough, I came across this Tedx Talk by Matti Posio - yet another figure in Alma-Media (former ed-in-chief in AL — if I understand correctly) — published about a year earlier — where he basically makes fun of the archaic attitudes of the print industry. No, this is no “Sanoma Muppets” ‑style funnies, but actually real content worth seeing. Starts kind of slowly, but absolutely illumi­nating 15min.of your time.

Just to make sure you understand the point: the last three dudes work for the same company. But it sure as hell does not sound like it.

Mr. Reenpää (head of board in Otava­media — or Orava­media as it is referred to nowadays in profes­sional circles…) stating how “photo­graphy and layout are not really part of journa­listic content but merely preli­minary processes of the workflow”. 

Duh?

Mr. Juha Blomster, the CEO of A‑lehdet (one of the biggest publishers in the country) giving an interview, saying that he did not know what the term “photo­jour­nalism” means. But he was intel­ligent enough to add that “he would write it down and look it up” (Link: Reenpää/Blomster in M&M).

He seriously said that. And no, he was NOT being sarcastic… I mean, what he said defines the term “brainfart”, doesn’t it?

And now the latest greatest hits i.e. listening to mrs. Pollari and the values of Sanoma Magazines of Finland.

Putting it in the most polite of words: kind of confusing, don’t you think?

Managers vs. Leaders

The picture emerging from all this is … well, something else than true leadership. It’s more like being totally lost, not knowing what to do…but making damn sure “we are no the worst losers on this”. Moneywise, that is. And that is — again — expressing it very, very politely.

I quoted Seth once in this post — and I will do it again. He makes an interesting distinction between “leaders” and “managers” (Oct 22, 2011):

Managers work to get their employees to do what they did yesterday, but a little faster and a little cheaper.

Leaders, on the other hand, know where they’d like to go, but understand that they can’t get there without their tribe, without giving those they lead the tools to make something happen.

Managers want authority. Leaders take responsibility.

We need both. But we have to be careful not to confuse them. And it helps to remember that leaders are scarce and thus more valuable.”

I intro­duced you the managers above. Personally,I really would like to see some leaders. So far, haven’t seen any.

14 Replies to “2012: “You don’t have to be a fucking psychic to see it””

  1. As I said in the previous discussion, I should be writing a book, so I jump on this topic immediately. Desperate to procras­tinate? Yup.

    For sport, I criticize both parties of this conflict. The discussion is too tactical when the situation would call for pretty grand strategy.
    I planned to listen to that Riitta Pollari tape for a couple minutes to get the point, but I ended up listening to the entire half an hour tirade. My take home message was that it could have been recorded in the peace negotia­tions between the Talibans and the Americans. Taliban were pondering, should they burn the American flag with gasoline or diesel oil, and the Americans were hotly arguing whether they should air drop Penthouse- or Hustler-magazines over the tribal areas.
    Both sides were pressing issues that make the other side go crazy. Why? The suits should know that the blue jeans crowd really like their “rights” and have done so for a couple of centuries now. But also the blue jeans people should know that the suits are really nervous about the value of their brands.
    Ms. Pollari made clear that there is very limited secondary market for most content and practically no history of legal trouble for the journa­lists. One person in the audience pointed out that why should the company then need all these exclusive rights in the first place?
    That was a good point, but then the audience seemed hostile when Pollari expressed her fears that people would sell similar content to two competing medias and thus make the original employer look bad.
    I say these are both dumb arguments in a situation when the sky is falling over the entire industry. Nobody was talking about how to finance, say, three month work periods to inves­tigate block­buster scoops, or how the companies could afford to hire Kari Kuukka to teach EVERYBODY to create stuff for the iPad. How could the freelancers use their freedom to support the emplo­yer’s brand like Erkki Toivanen did for the Yleis­radio, or how could the companies support the freelancers so they could find actually interesting things all over the world — like Yleis­radio did for Erkki Toivanen. (Toivanen was a legendary tv- and radio journalist who continued to do great work as a freelancer after retiring.)
    In other words, how could the companies and freelancers together create content and moral worth (re: the earlier discussion) that people want to pay money for? Now all I heard was heated arguing over what is basically just Dilbertian office politics.

    As I said in the previous thread, I think that the struc­tural change of the media has already happened — quite literally yesterday. You, Kari, saw it before most people and you saw it more clearly. Now it is over and done. Some dead men are still walking, but they are irrelevant. From now on, the topic changes to creating otaku for your ideas over the net and learning how to sell stuff for the iPad. You are doing both with this blog, so here is a tip of my hat.

    PS. Two minutes ago Seth sent a Domino Project e‑mail, where he said that the iBook Author program will help people to print their content, but it will not help to “publish” it. He defined publishing as curating the content and getting it in front of the reader.
    You know what? Seth is wrong. At this moment he is in danger of falling behind the times. He is protecting his turf as a publisher instead of seeing the sand shift under his feet. Verrry interesting…

    1. A quick reply: the discussion JP is referring to is under the previous post — and I at least perso­nally found it very interesting.
      Yes, you are totally right: the industry — as it has been — is as good as dead. Remains some harvesting to do, some dead men are walking, as you point out — and that’s about it. The end. Le Fin in French.

      The point I have been trying to make for the past two years is: This is not a crisis. This is a change. A struc­tural change of gargantuan propor­tions. Call it revolution if you like.

      The suits think that they can just pull the card “you know times are tough” forever… Yes, we know that. What are you going to do about it? Or: are you going to do anything about it. If not, get the f**k out. In more tradi­tional language: where is your grass­roots R&D? Is there any?

      And yes; in order to be fair: I do acknow­ledge the amount of money poured into higher level research (e.g. the iPad research of Tampere is financed by Sanomat). But the research I am talking about is: what are the concrete elements, tools, methods we should focus on to make viable journa­listic content in say 2015 — when many of the papers are not with us any more?

      Maybe the suits of ALMA-media who were shown to the door couple of days ago should have asked this question? And I am not cracking any cheap jokes here — amongst them people I have consi­dered personal friends and it is not my style to dance on anybody’s grave.

      You are also right in saying that the blue jeans should do some rethinking. But here I suspect our thinking differs a bit: the blue jeans are the creative talent — at least some of them are. They might have something to offer. How about asking them for advice? Instead of saying “this is what we take and you shut the f… up. There are more people behind the door”. No, the suits treat the blue jeans dept. as “easily replaceable, harmless, gray biomass” — or something along those lines you once said. :-) Instead of them being the true source of talent worth following.

      As you said — and I acknow­ledge: there is lot to hope for in the thinking department of the blue jeans guys. Most impor­tantly: we are not going back to something called “normal”. Ever. There won’t be papers and their websites… as eventually, the physical paper will be a niche. There will be “media” — and my guess is that a touch device will be in the pole position on that one.

      Somehow this has not sunk in. “They don’t understand…” “THEY” are not not important. And, no they don’t. They will not understand. So: are you going to teach them? Teach the suits how to do good journalism? You think they care? Good luck with that one… ;-)

      Question is: what do we do next? Perso­nally, I think I have it figured out… it just has to be put into practice. “DocGuys” — I love that one (FYI, JP came up with that term) — is a step to that direction. It’s not the solution, but the direction is right.

      As to what come to Seth and iBooks… Too early to tell. I am experi­menting with the program — yes, there is lot of potential. But also lots of pitfalls. See eg. paidContent and their critique (totally justified) that Apple did not mention yesterday, that you can only sell thru Apple.

      But: it also shows that in this revolution media is just one player. The main change will come from education. When Emma, my daughter, now 7‑years old, enters the higher grades, she will no longer carry any books. She has an iPad in her back-pack. That’s totally obvious. And at seven, she is already totally at ease with it. Writes with it, draws with it.

      However, this does not render pencil and paper obsolete. But this (the role of iPad in education) is too large an issue to discuss here… besides, it’s snowing outside, so I have to get back to reality and go and clear the driveway :-).

      One thing I would like to mention before I sign off: I was going ape-shit for almost two years thinking “they just don’t understand, they just don’t understand…” I even approached several editors-in-chief trying to make them understand. Yes, naive me.

      Then some time ago I talked with Mikael Jungner — I think I share a lot of opinions with him about this — and he said the smartest thing: “You know, one thing is certain. We should not worry about this. The revolution will come. It’s not up to us to arrange it. It will come. With or without us.”

      And, he was right. Everything which is happening now is actually a symptom of that… But as in almost any (fatal) disease, the symptoms are painful.

  2. »>Mikael Penti­käinen ( editor-in-chief of Helsingin Sanomat) saying how Journa­lis­ti­liitto (National Union of Journa­lists) cannot represent freelancers as they are not “people” – they are “incor­po­rated”.«<

    As the son of a Jewish lawyer, I just don’t know where to start.
    1) Corpo­ra­tions (ie, “the incor­po­rated”) are entitled to legal repre­sen­tation, just as indivi­duals are.
    2) If corpo­ra­tions (ie, “the incor­po­rated”) are not entitled to legal repre­sen­tation, then he is supporting a bunch of freeloading lawyers who claim to speak on behalf of Sanoma OY. Since deal memos are written by those lawyers, then they are null and void, since Sanoma OY (ie, “the incor­po­rated”) have no legal right of representation.

    Idiot.
    Oops, I mean suit.

    1. Yup -

      but you know, law is a bit different here at the north pole. Meaning: it’s a trade union. So as a union, it cannot represent corpo­ra­tions, only people of flesh and blood.
      Yes, big, frigging difference.…

      I asked actually if the union lawyers would represent us with a nominal fee of say 1€/corporation (such as mine, who employs the three persons: me, myself and I…). They said yes, but that would be immediately consi­dered as a cartel (is that correct term) and Sanomat would threat to sue immediately after that…

      Ad the ACTA to this picture (you had your SOMA and PIPA — it’s basically the same thing in Europe and 22 countries including our beloved Finland already signed…) — and we are looking at a very interesting future when it comes to IPR-management…

      Good seeing you again in the comments. Appreciate it.

      K

  3. See point number 2. That’s my point. Why may Sanoma have lawyers but other incor­po­rated entities may not?
    Also, we managed to shoot down SOPA and PIPA. More to come on that.

    1. Our law says that corpo­ra­tions can not unite. Meaning each should be repre­sented by a different lawyer — otherwise they will challenge and say it is a price cartel.
      Sanomat naturally can have as many lawyers as they want…
      Our society sucks donkey balls in this respect… but there is new legis­lation coming up now in the spring.

      As to SOPA and PIPA. That was good. Needed to be shot down. I am really worried about that ACTA EU is building behind closed doors. People still have this fallacy that leaders (read: suits in big corpo­ra­tions) are working in the interest of general good.
      As naive as it sounds, that is still the prevalent assumption among the general public.

  4. If one thinks about great journalism – at least for me – it is the classic photo­graphs that come first to my mind. Take this Wired article for example: http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2012/01/famous-photogs-pose-with-their-most-iconic-images/?viewall=true

    Yeah, not part of the journalism. Right.

    - “All the material worth mentioning in the internet comes from the legacy print”
    Personal visit history of the last few days: Arstechnica, Guardian, Reddit, Vanity Fair, Wikipedia, The Atlantic, The Gray Lady, YLE, New Yorker etc. Curiously absent, quality internet material from Finnish legacy print houses. Also, curiously absent, shortened one paragraph articles at the sites I mentioned by name. ( Well, YLE has mostly at least two. )

    Last point in Finnish, feeling a bit tired — sorry:
    Itunes store myy nykyään vain DRM-vapaata musiikkia. Spotify sai ihmiset maksamaan taas musii­kista ja ehkä saa reilun rojalti-jaonkin aikai­seksi jossain vaiheessa. Tutustuin hiljattain Elisa Kirja ‑palveluun ja ensim­mäinen asia mitä minun halutaan tekevän on asentaa Adoben DRM-softa… ( Adoben! )

    Siis Suomessa, lukemisen luvatussa maassa, kustan­tajat ovat ihan samalla tavalla pää pensaassa kuin muual­lakin ja ilmei­sesti tulkit­sevat musiik­ki­teol­li­suuden Via Dolorosaa vain histo­rial­li­seksi faktaksi. Digitaa­lisen sisäl­tö­pal­velun helppous ja laatu koski­sivat vain muita aloja, kun halutaan ihmisten myös _maksavan_ sisällöstä.

    Jokainen asiakas ei olekaan joku jolle halutaan tuottaa paras mahdol­linen palvelu ja ollaan aidosti ylpeitä digitaa­li­sesta tuotteesta, vaan epäilyttävä rikol­linen kunnes toisin todistetaan.
    Print­ti­median suhtau­tu­minen digitaa­liseen sisältöön tuntuu hieman saman­lai­selta. Ainakaan minulle ei tule fiilistä, että kaikki ovat innoistaan tuomassa parasta osaamistaan tehdäkseen tuotteen, joka on täysin vaivat­to­masti saata­villa ja jonka ihmisten halutaan ostavan. Missä on edes yksi suoma­lainen sanoma­lehti, joka päätti että verkko­sivuja ei näyte­täkään ilmai­seksi kaikille vaan vain tilaa­jille ja tehdään sinne print­ti­tason resurs­seilla kamaa?

    Niin, ja muuten markka (hah) vetoa, että kirjojen editointiin e‑kirja-muotoon mahd. hyvän ja virheet­tömän layoutin saami­seksi ei käytetä kustan­tajien puolesta paljon rahaa. Toiv. olen tosin väärässä.
    -> http://www.lunascafe.org/2011/04/typography-is-about-reading-and-so-are.html

    Tästä tuli aika kyyninen kommentti. Surul­lista on etten vain tiedä onko sen epärea­lis­tisen kyyninen. Kyynisyys tässä tapauk­sessa syntyy tosin välittämisestä.

  5. Tuomas -

    kiitos kommen­tista. Olet täsmälleen oikeassa ja kysyt oikeita kysymyksiä.
    Pihalla kuin lintu­laudat… vai miten se sanonta menee.

    Luin tuossa joku päivä jotain juttua, jossa puhuttiin kymme­nestä pahim­masta virheestä mitä voi tehdä, kun pyörittää/aloittaa businesta.

    Ensim­mäinen kohta tällä listalla oli: “Focusoi rahaan ja ansaitsemiseen”

    Tätä tekee meidän legacy print. Mitä ja miten tää tuottaa? — kun oikea kysymys pitäisi olla: miten me tehdään tästä niin hieno, että ihmiset haluavat ostaa tän hinnalla millä hyvänsä?
    Mieti Applea, joka on aivan törkeän kallis, suhteet­toman kallis, katera­kenne tekisi mieli sanoa exponen­tial­li­sesti suurempi kuin muilla — mutta joka toimii/on niin hyvä että ihmiset eivät harkitse kahta kertaa. Ja tämä ei ollut Applen ylistystä vaan esimerkki.

    Sisältö edellä. Content is the King.

    Noita hoetaan koko ajan. Näkis vaan jossain.…

    1. Hämmen­tävän suuri osa ( ehkä tosin vain äänekäs vähem­mistö ) selittää Applen menes­tystä omena­kul­tilla ja sillä kuinka hyvä markki­noija ko. yritys on. Suomessa tosin Nokian romahdus selit­tänee osaa katke­ruutta ja syylllistämismentaliteettia.

      Mutta eikö ihminen joka näin analysoi Applen menes­tyksen vain tosia­siassa määrittele asiakkaat tyhmiksi ja helposti johda­tel­ta­vissa oleviksi, pahoi­tellen lähinnä sitä ettei itse ole niin hyvä sitä käyttämään hyväksi. Eli että olisi olemassa oikopolku rikkauksiin, kunhan hyppää sen mahdol­li­simman hyvän tuotteen tekemisen yli. Ja hyvä tuote ei tarkoita jotain, mihin on vain koottu kaikki tekno­logia auringon alta.

      Pitänee etsiä stres­si­pallo jostain, on vain niin käsit­tä­mä­töntä minusta kulut­tajana, että meillä oli/on Nokia, huippu­tek­no­lo­ginen paperi­teol­lisuus, koko maa täynnä puheli­mastoja, suositut kirjastot ja älyttö­mästi suomen­kie­listä sanomalehti/aikakausiteollisuutta ja paras mihin ne ovat pystyneet on pari elekt­ro­nista julkaisua amerik­ka­laisen yrityksen täppärissä.

      Hassua miten tästä ei voi kirjoittaa tulematta täyteen epätoivoa.

      1. Tuote eli sisältö. Juuri näin. Applen menes­tyksen takana on kyllä poolo­paita S Jobs — mutta hänen yksi nerok­kaimpia vetojaan oli antaa t‑paita hemmolle nimeltä Jonathan Ive lähes rajoit­ta­mat­to­masti pelitilaa. Kuullostaa ehkä joskus, että edesmennyt Jobs vilah­telee minun kirjoi­tuk­sissani turhankin usein, mutta rehel­li­sesti ihminen jota todella katson ylöspäin on Jon Ive.
        Vähek­sy­mättä insinöörejä — mutta tyypil­li­sesti ‑ehkä yksin­ker­taistaen, sallit­takoon — voisi sanoa, että he toteut­tavat, mutta henkilöt kuten Ive luovat. Jobsin nerokkuus oli kyky seistä itse ‑yhtiönsä kanssa — tuossa risteyk­sessä josta puhuin tuossa seuraa­vassa jutussani.

        Putosin ihan täysin tämän sinun viimeisen kappa­leesi kohdolla:

        On vain niin käsit­tä­mä­töntä minusta kulut­tajana, että meillä oli/on Nokia, huippu­tek­no­lo­ginen paperi­teol­lisuus, koko maa täynnä puheli­mastoja, suositut kirjastot ja älyttö­mästi suomen­kie­listä sanomalehti/aikakausiteollisuutta ja paras mihin ne ovat pystyneet on pari elekt­ro­nista julkaisua amerik­ka­laisen yrityksen täppärissä.”

        Se on muuten oikeasti käsittämätöntä.

  6. Kuten aiemminkin hienon blogisi parissa, olen seurannut tätä keskus­telua sivusta kiinnos­tuneen kansa­laisen roolissa. Tänään yllätyin lukiessani Hesarin pääkir­joi­tusta, jossa Paavo Rautio kertoo, kuinka sattu­malta löysi vanhan leike­kir­jansa 90-luvulta ja jäi tutkimaan siinä ollutta juttua Paavo Väyrysestä:

    Leike­kirjaan talle­tettu musta­val­koinen Helsingin Sanomien sivu tuoksui vanhalta paino­mus­teelta ja paperi tuntui hauraalta. Sivun asettelu oli menneestä maail­masta: tarjolla oli valtava määrä tekstiä, ja haastattelu oli tehty kysymys–vastaus-periaatteella. Keskustaa koristi musta­val­koinen kuva, jossa mies istui televi­sio­tuo­lissa ja piteli kirjaa.

    Tämän näköistä pakettia ei lukijoille enää tarjota. Nyt pitää olla grafiikkoja, runsaasti kuvia ja pieniä juttuja, jotka asetellaan nätisti pääjuttua tukemaan ja lukijaa paapomaan.

    Vanha lehden sivu toi mieleen ajan, jolloin haastattelu oli tehty. Maailman, joka ei ollut yhtä dynaa­minen kuin nykyinen.”

    HS siis selvästi ja suoraan toteaa, että ajat ovat muuttuneet ja visuaa­li­suu­della on aivan eri lailla tärkeä rooli kuin ennen. Kuitenkin samaan aikaan tapahtuu kaikki se, mitä tässäkin blogissa on ruodittu: visuaa­linen journa­lismi “ei ole ydinasia”, pitää tuottaa halvalla ja nopeasti, uuden median mahdol­li­suuksiin ei panosteta jne. Vaikka Hesarin pääkir­joi­tus­toi­mit­ta­jakin toteaa, että aika on nyt “dynaa­mi­sempi” ja pitää olla “juttuja joilla paapoa lukijaa”. Toki tuossakin kirjoi­tuk­sessa visuaa­lisuus esitetään ikäänkuin kuorro­tuksena, jolla houku­tella lukijan mielen­kiinto, enemmän kuin itse sisältönä, jonakin, joka toimittaa viestin perille vakuut­ta­vasti ja kiinnostavasti.

    En ota kantaa visuaa­lisuus-teksti ‑vastak­kai­na­set­teluun, jos sellaista on syytä tehdä, mutta maamme valta­median viime­ai­kai­sissa viesteissä on havait­ta­vissa risti­riita tältä osin.

  7. Viime viikolla elämässäni alkoi uusi ajanjakso. Koko elämäni ajan meille on tullut sanoma­lehti, parhaim­millaan parikin, ja lehteä on luettu ahkerasti aamiais­pöy­dässä. Kun sitten keski-ikäis­tyvänä muutin maalle ja aamun lehti kannetaan laatikkoon 300 metrin päähän, huomasin että yhä useammin haimme maanantai-iltana laati­kosta viikon­lo­punkin lehdet. Ja totesin, että uutiset katsotaan televi­siosta, aamiais­pöy­dässä luetaan iPadejä ja kokouk­sissa selataan älypu­he­limia, ja sanoma­lehdet kannetaan 10 km päähän keräys­laa­tikkoon lukemattomina.

    Meille ei siis enää tule sanoma­lehteä. Mietin miten pienet lapsemme tämän kokevat, onko heillä jotenkin heikommat lähtö­kohdat, vai onko heille aikanaan itsestään selvää, että artik­kelit ja infor­maatio saadaan sähköi­sistä lähteistä. Veikkaan jälkimmäistä.

    Vaikka aamun uutiset luetaan iPadeiltä, se ei vähennä kuvien merki­tystä, päin vastoin. Visuaa­lisuus on yhä tärkeämpää. Kun kuva pysäyttää, tulee luettua myös siihen liittyvä tarina. Tai huomio infor­maa­tio­tul­vassa kiinnittyy tiettyyn paikkaan. Tai kuva kiteyttää ajatuksen.

    Onnit­telut upeasta vaali­ku­vastasi! Vaikka en sitä lehdestä nähnytkään, täällä kuitenkin!

    1. Susanna -

      kiitos. Mulla on kaksi pientä lasta itselläni. Molemmat ovat aivan sinuja iPadin kanssa. Veikkaan, että kun vanhempi, nyt ekaluok­ka­lainen astuu lukioon, niin laukussa ei ole enää yhtään kirjaa. Voi käydä nopeamminkin.
      Hauskaa ja hienoa nähdä ajatuksesi kuvan merki­tyk­sestä (tarkoitan: kuulen ammat­ti­laisten kommenteja päivittäin, mutta tämä on joten niin luonnol­linen, rehel­linen mitä sanot): kuvat oikeastaan näyttävät iPadillä paljon hienom­malta ja kuvilla voidaan kertoa koko tarina alusta loppuun.
      En tiedä, oletko lukenut tätä blogia paljonkin, mutta jos ei ole osunut silmiisi, niin vilaise http://www.docimages.fi ja siinä ne pari viimeistä työtä (minun oppilaitteni). Tuo on sellaista visuaa­lista journa­lismia, jota toivoisin tulevina vuosina näkeväni. Ja näyttää käsit­tä­mät­tömän hienolta juuri esim. iPad ruudulta.

      Ah, ja kiitos ystäväl­li­sistä sanoistasi tuosta vaali­ku­vasta. Viime päivien tapah­tumien varjossa se ja siihen johtava tarina saa ihan uusia ulottu­vuuksia (viittaan siis tuohon kirjoi­tuk­seeni Koulu­kiusausta vai Kolonia­lismia). Isot media­talot säästävät ja säästävät ja sisältö muuttuu harmaam­maksi ja harmaam­maksi… kun oikea ratkaisu olisi etsiä niitä helmiä joilla erotutaan massasta.

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