Shared Darkness

I’ve had this conversation a couple different times now with a couple different sets of old-guard journalists, and it rarely gets any less exhausting or more productive. Here’s the thing: It doesn’t matter what Philip Roth thinks the iPad says about the future of reading, or whether you can comprehend why your neighbor would cancel their newspaper subscription, or whether one individually believes the more conversational nature of blogging and/or online film criticism and (gasp) actual interaction with readers is not “real” or “legitimate” journalism, and its practitioners are ergo wholesale frauds and idiots. The dominant mechanism for 21st century news and entertainment conveyance has been decided, and it is not print. It will continue to exist, but that train has left the station. So, professionally speaking, you’ve either got a ticket and are on board or you will not make it to the next town.