01 November 2013

The Best Example of "Online Journalism" To Date?

To say that I've been frustrated by the way media companies, publishers and the journalism world treats the web would be a huge understatement.

Those who know me know that I've been VERY vocal about the pathetic efforts to date. I've seen almost 20 years of brain-dead stupid attempts. Most of these attempts, frankly, looked to be more like media companies trying to force the web to be like the word they were used to than any attempt to actually use the power of the medium in an effective and appropriate way.

The few examples of people thinking about the opportunities and strengths of the medium (like the NYTimes Snowfall piece) have largely been isolated portfolio pieces (and have been few and far between).

As someone who originally worked in media (and in publishing in fact) and moved from there into the web in the early 90s, it's been incredibly painful to watch the industry repeatedly shoot itself in the head. Over and over again. In the same exact way.

So suffice it to say that I was overjoyed (quite literally in fact) when I saw this incredible Guardian NSA piece.

If you work in publishing - in news - in media... examine this. Carefully. Learn from it. Emulate it. This is what you should be doing!

As a judge for the Webbys I have to say I assume this will be nominated and I assume it will win. But that's simply not enough. I want to see this nominated for some publishing and journalism awards. It's time.