Miguel Afonso Caetano<p>"Current trends point, at best, to a continued retreat, as the press serves fewer and fewer people, ultimately ending up with a role akin to contemporary art or classical music: highly valued by a privileged few, regarded with indifference by the many. At worst, the lack of substantial innovation leaves a growing number of historically independent news media vulnerable to takeover by proprietors who, as we have seen in the past, and will probably see even more in the future, put politics ahead of their commitment to publishing.</p><p>A different story begins with the recognition that the existential crisis for journalism is not seen that way by much of the public. While many people retain a sound scepticism of aspects of the digital media environment, they also appreciate much of what it has to offer, and choose it every day at the expense of declining legacy media. Scare stories about the problems associated with digital media will not bring people back to news. A wiser course of action might be to impress people, rather than try to depress them.</p><p>The people best positioned to forge a different path are those journalists and publishers who accept that the next step is to meet people where they are. The aim should not be to take journalism backwards, but to create something new."</p><p><a href="https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/69427/irrelevant-unloved-press-lost-touch" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/m</span><span class="invisible">edia/69427/irrelevant-unloved-press-lost-touch</span></a></p><p><a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Journalism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Journalism</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Media" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Media</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/News" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>News</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Press" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Press</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Newspapers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Newspapers</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/DigitalMedia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>DigitalMedia</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/SocialMedia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SocialMedia</span></a></p>