Chris Nolan, the accomplished journalist and opinionated author coined the term “stand alone journalist” to refer to the self-sufficiency of the individual provider of words, images and audio, made plausible by the Web.
The Stand Alone Journalist is Here
By Chris NolanA few days ago, when Jay Rosen wrote and asked if I was going to do any more posts defining “stand alone journalism,” the phrase I coined to describe the work I do at my site, Politics From Left to Right, I demurred. My readers are interested in my West Coast view of politics and its intersection with technology, my feminist rants or my theories about Progress libertarians. As for the nuts and bolts of the news business as we practitioners see it, they’re not interested. Jay’s response was perfectly reasonable: Mine are.
So, here I am, spurred on by Rupert Murdoch’s speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors. I don’t care for his politics but I deeply respect his news and business judgment (I’ve been inside The New York Post and they were good to me). And I’m impressed but not surprised that Murdoch has the nerve to tell American newspaper editors something they badly needed to hear.
The newsroom has left the building. Readers–and not just the young, whom Murdoch emphasized–gather their own information and parse it out as they see fit. And they find it insulting that anyone would tell them what to think about issues or events as they occur.