The end of Print already? The Net at danger!
Hubert Burda (65 years old) - grandson and manager of one of Germanys biggest printing house with publications like "Focus" or the "Burda Mode Magazine" is saying that he will never open a new printing plant - he says at the moment printing will not go away but he does not see a bright future in the printing press. "News has now become a commodity, thanks to the Internet, so we must differentiate ourselves in other ways" he says. Which goes hand in hand with all big media reshuffles many have been predicting in the last years. He says that the only way to keep a fellow readership is by creating "communities" to interact with. I am a little startled that all this is happening already - first print then radio then TV was always my personal prediction and that the big medias are already stopping to invest in their longtime profitable businesses is telling - that an "old" man is at the forefront of this - one I would have thought to be a conservative - reading the Focus magazine from time to time is even more interesting. Now the implications are not so rosy. I always thought the collosses of big media might be too late to the game to gain a big foothold into the free net as we know it but ultimately this might not be the case - even before the independent bloggers could gain momentum with a big enough fellowship to rival the conservative traditionals they are entering the battlefield with their big budgets and lemming masses rallied behind them to take the lead in mass thought making again.
How to stop them the carriers and big corpos to take away what most bloggers, online activists and communities have taken for granted in the last 10 years or so Doc Sears wrote an highly interestingly article about what the net is and whats it about to become if no one realizes the risks in the first place. Interesting times indeed and a big battle of an society based on self thinking individuals and a corporate led mass society ahead.