Clay Shirky’s on Media in 2009

• The great misfortune of newspapers in this era is that they were such a good idea for such a long time that people felt the newspaper business model was part of a deep truth about the world, rather than just the way things happened to be.
• The 500-year-old accident of economics occasioned by the printing press - high upfront cost and filtering happening at the source of publication - is over. But will the New York Times still exist on paper? Of course, because people will hit the print button.
• If it’s a highly qualified niche magazine, something aimed at surgeons or firefighters, it’s going online. There’s no reason those things should exist.
• The renaissance of quality television is an indicator of what an increased number of distribution channels can do. It is no accident that this started with cable.

[via Digital guru Clay Shirky’s media forecast and predictions for 2009 | Media | The Guardian]