More awesome, frightening and depressing ranting from David Simon on how the internet is not going to save journalism. At least not soon. What he said to Congress. More in-depth version. Internet new media types try to claim he’s wrong, but not very convincingly.
Bottom line: amateur, unpaid journalists are no substitute for well-resourced, professional beat reporters.
Is your vote for allowing collusion then?
No, I understand him to be suggesting that the “big question” needs to be reframed more along the lines of, “How are we going to develop new business models to support professional journalism” rather than “How are we going to crowdsource journalism so that we don’t need professional journalists anymore.” (Not that he’s the only person asking that question, but merely that he’s asking it bluntly and well.)