The Guardian focuses on creating content …
Tuesday, March 10. 2009 | 18:38 | von Jan Sessenhausen… and lets others worry about distributing it. That, and not the fact that almost everybody can integrate its online content for free in exchange for ad space, is the essence of today’s announcement from British online newspaper Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk).
Back in the good old days, newspaper managers did not have to worry much about how to effectively distribute their content since there basically was only one way to do it – print it on paper and get it out to the streets as quick and widely as possible. With the internet totally changing the newspaper / magazine ballgame and readers caring less who they get the news from as long as they get it as quick and accurate as possible, the Guardian is taking the somehow obvious step and concentrates onto its core competency: creating news.
With today’s announcement, The Guardian reacts to a current trend primarily driven by Twitter: Internet users don’t look for news and information any more, they are made aware of it by their peers interested in similar subjects. As a result, people will spend less time “scanning” their favorite sources of information.
Furthermore this can be seen as a move to cut online costs. With recent online news experiments like zoomer.de (Holtzbrinck) failing, media houses are much more reluctant to try out new formats and burn more money. Making its content available for free allows other parties to try out new concepts – and I bet the folks over at the Guardian are closely watching.
I tend to agree with Emily Bell, the Guardian News & Media director of digital content, who described Open Platform as a "new chapter in our history and a new foundation for the future of our journalism". But at the same time I would not go as far as Marc Andreesen, who in a recent interview with Charlie Rose challenged news organizations to shut down the printing presses tomorrow to stop losing money (http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10093).
Two more things that come to my head right now: Will German newspapers pick up this approach and create similar offers and will other media industries such as TV or Radio follow?
Tags: guardian, open content, twitter
