Journalism is a thing, a whole, it makes sense to talk about in the way I talk about it. I don't need a lecture at this level, although people often do it for some reason.#
I read a piece recently somewhere, I forget where, that said people who think rapid universal change can't take place -- they aren't paying attention. The example they cited was that not too long ago people were smoking everywhere. Now there are severe limits on where you can smoke, and people seem to respect the limits. We made a decision as a society to change our behavior and it happened quickly. And you could have made the same kinds of arguments, that there is no such thing as a "smoker" -- but there was. #
It also happened with same-sex marriage. Hard to believe it first became legal in the US in 2015! Had you asked me in 2014 if that was possible I would have said no. Then it changed, just like that. #
Covid is another one. Who would have thought that people could hibernate for more than a year in the US. I recorded a podcast in March last year, just to mark how ludicrous I thought it was yet at the same time inevitable. We do go through real transitions. I expect there will be plenty more. #
And at some point some journalism org will trip over the idea that repping the people's interest makes their art work as a business like nothing else before. Sometimes I think that's all we're arguing about in the US. The elites talk to the elites and ignore the rest of us. So remind me, why are we supporting this?#
You know those obnoxious sites that pop up dialogs when they think you're about to leave, asking you to subscribe to their email newsletter? Well that won't do for Scripting News readers who are a discerning lot, very loyal, but that wouldn't last long if I did rude stuff like that. So here I am at the bottom of the page quietly encouraging you to sign up for the nightly email. It's got everything from the previous day on Scripting, plus the contents of the linkblog and who knows what else we'll get in there. People really love it. I wish I had done it sooner. And every email has an unsub link so if you want to get out, you can, easily -- no questions asked, and no follow-ups. Go ahead and do it, you won't be sorry! :-)