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Geeks Bearing Gifts: Imagining New Futures for News
Technology has disrupted the news industry– its relationships, forms, and business models – but also provides no end of opportunities for improving, expanding, reimagining, and sustaining journalism. Geeks Bearing Gifts: Imagining New Futures for News is a creative, thought-provoking and entertaining exploration of the possible future(s) of news by Professor Jeff Jarvis, who leads the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
To Jarvis, journalism helps a community better organize its knowledge so it can better organize itself: “But we in the field came to define ourselves less by our value and mission and more by our media and tools — ink on pulp or slick paper, sound or images over airwaves. Now we have new tools to exploit. Those tools require new skills and create new value. But at the core, we serve citizens and communities.” He offers not a single definitive future of journalism and news, but a range of possibilities depending on how journalists and journalism evolve – with the help of the “geeks” whose advances in media technology offer many opportunities for journalists and media entrepreneurs who are willing to think creatively and take risks.
Jarvis, one of the preeminent voices on emerging forms of journalism, news delivery, and community engagement, advises many media companies, startups, and foundations. He is a former president and creative director of Advance.net, the online arm of Advance Publications, and was the creator and founding editor of Entertainment Weekly; Sunday editor and associate publisher of the New York Daily News; TV critic for TV Guide and People; a columnist on the San Francisco Examiner; and assistant city editor and reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
To Jarvis, journalism helps a community better organize its knowledge so it can better organize itself: “But we in the field came to define ourselves less by our value and mission and more by our media and tools — ink on pulp or slick paper, sound or images over airwaves. Now we have new tools to exploit. Those tools require new skills and create new value. But at the core, we serve citizens and communities.” He offers not a single definitive future of journalism and news, but a range of possibilities depending on how journalists and journalism evolve – with the help of the “geeks” whose advances in media technology offer many opportunities for journalists and media entrepreneurs who are willing to think creatively and take risks.
Jarvis, one of the preeminent voices on emerging forms of journalism, news delivery, and community engagement, advises many media companies, startups, and foundations. He is a former president and creative director of Advance.net, the online arm of Advance Publications, and was the creator and founding editor of Entertainment Weekly; Sunday editor and associate publisher of the New York Daily News; TV critic for TV Guide and People; a columnist on the San Francisco Examiner; and assistant city editor and reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
234 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 6, 2014
27 people are currently reading
194 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Jarvis
20 books134 followersJeff Jarvis is an American journalist writing for publications such as New York Daily News, the San Francisco Examiner, and The Guardian. In 2006 he became an associate professor at City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism, directing its new media program. He is a co-host on This Week in Google, a show on the TWiT Network.
Picture by Robert Scoble
Picture by Robert Scoble
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 5, 2015
I've known Jeff for years and have never really gotten him. You can never be quite sure where he's coming from: He talks fast, and his shifting perspectives and strategies on the media can blind you like a blizzard. He tends to devise innovative-sounding terms for mundane realities - like "ambassadors to the community" for journalistic sources, or "publicness" for letting Facebook rip off your private information. But I read this book and found myself taking it very seriously.
Beneath all the razzmatazz in these pages is a compelling case for how journalism went astray. Jeff shows how the walls journalists always put up between themselves and advertisers also kept journalists remote from the people they serve. Journalists - including me - saw themselves as high priests of public affairs, unsullied by the grubby "business side" or the "special interests" that tried to influence our perception of the news. That is, we held ourselves above just about everybody. That was never a good attitude, and now it's an impossible approach to our work. It's not smart for an information provider to be arrogant when the flood gates of information have burst open, when everybody with a Facebook account and Twitter handle can spread information as readily as any journalist. We journalists still have an important role, but we must find our place in this flow of information - not just ways to provide "content," but ways to better understand and serve our communities by reporting, filtering, organizing and presenting information. Journalists have always interviewed people. But Jeff puts the emphasis on listening. We must learn to listen very carefully. He's right.
Jeff has changed over the years. He used to disparage professional journalism. Now he takes his job as a journalism professor very seriously, and is working very hard to support his profession and elevate it. All respects to Jeff for rebooting my mindset - finally!
Beneath all the razzmatazz in these pages is a compelling case for how journalism went astray. Jeff shows how the walls journalists always put up between themselves and advertisers also kept journalists remote from the people they serve. Journalists - including me - saw themselves as high priests of public affairs, unsullied by the grubby "business side" or the "special interests" that tried to influence our perception of the news. That is, we held ourselves above just about everybody. That was never a good attitude, and now it's an impossible approach to our work. It's not smart for an information provider to be arrogant when the flood gates of information have burst open, when everybody with a Facebook account and Twitter handle can spread information as readily as any journalist. We journalists still have an important role, but we must find our place in this flow of information - not just ways to provide "content," but ways to better understand and serve our communities by reporting, filtering, organizing and presenting information. Journalists have always interviewed people. But Jeff puts the emphasis on listening. We must learn to listen very carefully. He's right.
Jeff has changed over the years. He used to disparage professional journalism. Now he takes his job as a journalism professor very seriously, and is working very hard to support his profession and elevate it. All respects to Jeff for rebooting my mindset - finally!
December 28, 2014
One of the best mediabooks i've read this year. Jeff Jarvis is equally critical for legacy mediacompanies as for new players (buzzfeed's bubble). But also offers good thoughts and advice on how to move on
July 12, 2015
Highly recommended for all who work in online content, media and journalism.
February 22, 2015
One of my books to read for February, BBC.com:
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/2015...
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/2015...
January 8, 2020
A “must-read” book for everyone who works, live and passionate try to question communication world. Jarvis talk through his experience, knowledge and thought: journalisms, but his questions are honest, pure and valuable for all communication ecosystem. Thanks Mr. Jarvis. Really good and deep valuable book
January 17, 2020
個人認為作者將新聞機構與網絡平台混為一談了，作者主張「新聞媒體應該要服務使用者」，讓我有種他認同新聞機構應走向內容農場的感覺。畢竟，讀者就是喜歡標題聳聽的文章，喜歡名人的八卦，嚴肅新聞注定沒有市場。
在科技發達的今天，只要智能電話在手，人人都可以發佈照片及消息，沒有把關之下，資訊任意流通，但真相卻沒有人在意。如果新聞機構要跟著這些網上熱議的話題跑，我覺得是一種倒退。
在科技發達的今天，只要智能電話在手，人人都可以發佈照片及消息，沒有把關之下，資訊任意流通，但真相卻沒有人在意。如果新聞機構要跟著這些網上熱議的話題跑，我覺得是一種倒退。
March 24, 2022
Muy difícil de seguir, amigo Jarvis.
March 12, 2017
Este es un buen libro para las personas que se dedican a la comunicación o periodismo digital, incluso para influencers. Encontrarás muchos tips para crear mejores contenidos y de calidad.
December 21, 2019
Para ser un ensayo escrito en el 2015, muchas de sus premisas se mantienen al día de hoy. Considero una lectura obligada si queremos estar al tanto del modelo de negocios de los medios de comunicación, y sirve de referencia para entender mejor este mundo de la información.
August 6, 2015
In marketing and advertising, there’s growing interest in serving people as individuals rather than in mass. Forget big data. Let’s focus on small data so we can develop relationships with people and provide what they truly need, want and expect. Jeff Jarvis advocates such a relationship model for journalism that questions the relevance of mass communication. His recommendation goes beyond building relationships between journalists and readers; it includes engagement among news providers. A collaborative model that links many stakeholder groups seems to me a sensible response to the digital disruption that knocked the breath out of print journalism. But Jarvis doesn’t provide solutions. Instead, he offers eliminations and possibilities. For example, he makes a great case for why most publications (especially hyperlocal ones) should ditch the pay wall. He also explores how news sources might use tools to help serve people’s particular needs and interests. Of note, he asks why behavioral ads are so common, yet no one has developed a similar system for content. My only beef with his essay is that the possibilities are not discussed with depth. It would’ve been great to read how a local newspaper might implement one of the many things he tosses out there, like the Guardian’s membership model. I am particularly intrigued by that one. Good read, folks. Lots of food for thought for journalists and PR pros alike.
December 29, 2016
Bias view.
It sounds like propaganda to make everyone to accept that search engine should get free content from newspapers' website to publish in its search results.
Why search engines should not be asked to pay for quality content by default? What divine rights are given to search engine to use others works?
By asking search engines to pay for content, financial part of journalism can be more sustainable. Everyone who supplies quality contents will benefit from the direct income from search engines. It can be done by language of a nation. A non English speaking country can legislate to demand search engine to pay for the content it extracts from the websites of the country.
If the search engine does not pay, no content of that language will be available for the search engine.
Users can use local search engines who pay the websites. It will help the country to grow and promote their own search engine companies. It is good for a small nation with its own language.
It sounds like propaganda to make everyone to accept that search engine should get free content from newspapers' website to publish in its search results.
Why search engines should not be asked to pay for quality content by default? What divine rights are given to search engine to use others works?
By asking search engines to pay for content, financial part of journalism can be more sustainable. Everyone who supplies quality contents will benefit from the direct income from search engines. It can be done by language of a nation. A non English speaking country can legislate to demand search engine to pay for the content it extracts from the websites of the country.
If the search engine does not pay, no content of that language will be available for the search engine.
Users can use local search engines who pay the websites. It will help the country to grow and promote their own search engine companies. It is good for a small nation with its own language.
March 15, 2015
Perhaps it's because I follow Jarvis a lot, but there was nothing new here. I'm growing tired of folks like Jarvis who are quick to offer criticism of the current models for journalism but are short on practical solutions to move forward.
While I admire the idea of blowing up newsrooms and building them for the future, the truth is that it's just not going to happen in most companies.
I'll admit that I read these books hoping to find a solution. I'm clearly setting the bar too high. Many of the ideas and examples cited are ideas I'm familiar with. Some I've even seen in practice.
I'm sure part of the solution lies in what Jarvis writes about, but I didn't find this book very insightful. If you've heard Jarvis before, there's nothing new to see here.
What I would really be interested in reading is a book about how to get from where we are now to where Jarvis suggests.
While I admire the idea of blowing up newsrooms and building them for the future, the truth is that it's just not going to happen in most companies.
I'll admit that I read these books hoping to find a solution. I'm clearly setting the bar too high. Many of the ideas and examples cited are ideas I'm familiar with. Some I've even seen in practice.
I'm sure part of the solution lies in what Jarvis writes about, but I didn't find this book very insightful. If you've heard Jarvis before, there's nothing new to see here.
What I would really be interested in reading is a book about how to get from where we are now to where Jarvis suggests.
April 4, 2017
I'm an admitted fanboy of Jeff Jarvis. His previous book, Public Parts, changed my understand about social media in profound ways and has helped me think differently about the Internet as a whole. Geeks Bearing Gifts follows as the ideological extension of Public Parts in that Jarvis lays out the challenges and the struggles of news media and how they should pivot towards newer strategies for considering what news is, how to deliver it, and how to maintain its legitimacy. He certainly offers many nuggets of wisdom on how news can and should improve while also providing some provocative thoughts on how news media fails and will continue to do so unless we reinvent what it means. People are likely to resist his message but in the face of a failed media landscape, they don't seem to offer other viable options.
January 8, 2015
A lot of useful insights. Many possible future scenarios to save the local news by turning them into services and developing new formats and new tools to help the readers achieve their objectives. A must read for anybody in the editorial field, journalism but also generally in the design field, as there's much to be learned in terms of how many "once products" are gonna change into services soon enough.
July 9, 2015
This is the basis of our social journalism degree at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. I'm biased, but I think this is critically important to the future of news and of journalism education.
Finding ways to turn journalism from a product into a service isn't just a good idea for democracy. It's also critical to financial sustainability and to helping make news relevant and useful to people.
Finding ways to turn journalism from a product into a service isn't just a good idea for democracy. It's also critical to financial sustainability and to helping make news relevant and useful to people.
July 25, 2016
The Future of News?
A really thorough and candid exploration of the many competing needs, pressures, limitations and demands on the field of journalism. He offers, to his credit, no silver bullets, but a number of theories and ideas that could lead to better days. He also exposes the ideas of others, all in a jaunty, engaging style.
A really thorough and candid exploration of the many competing needs, pressures, limitations and demands on the field of journalism. He offers, to his credit, no silver bullets, but a number of theories and ideas that could lead to better days. He also exposes the ideas of others, all in a jaunty, engaging style.
April 14, 2015
Výborná kniha plná briskných postrehov, zaujímavých úvah a podnetných otázok. Urobil som si z nej kopec poznámok, z ktorých budem ešte dlho čerpať. Pár z nich som zhrnul do blogpostu: https://dennikn.sk/blog/budujte-si-vz...
June 24, 2015
Very readable and prescient discussion about how the news industry and the role of journalists is likely to change over the next few years. Worth your time if you're interested in the business of shaping the news.
September 24, 2015
An honest analysis of digital news today and what it could become
The research that went into the book was fantastic. In addition I thought some of his future hypotheses were quite compelling and inspiring.
The research that went into the book was fantastic. In addition I thought some of his future hypotheses were quite compelling and inspiring.
June 9, 2016
Cogent, compelling look at the real role of media in a connected world. Will make you think twice about what 'content' is and how journalists can provide value to communities.
October 8, 2017
My review here (it's too long for this site): https://wordpress.com/post/ronanconro...
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews