Alan Rusbridger, Editor of The Guardian, spoke last week at the RSA about the implications of the latest wave of web technology for newspapers. He's a great speaker, casting across the newspaper industry and spinning all the trends together in an effortless style. It's well worth a listen. It must have chilled the audience to hear such a high-profile individual compare the newspaper industry to antique book shops. I particularly enjoyed the way in which he draws a comparison between the business models of Craig's List and the New York Times - by looking at the buildings they operate from. One a 'shack' with eighteen people in it, the other a 'megalithic, grand piano' housing more than 10,000 newsfolk. Yet the latter is terrified of the former. Mike Butcher writes it up here complete with juicy quotes: "There's a revolution as big as Gutenberg and Caxton going on."
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