Matt Gemmell on publishing services like paper.li:
Newspapers contain editorial. There’s some kind of journalistic contribution, however brief, in each article. With these online “newspapers”, there’s zero. It’s just a wad of links and extracts, styled to appear something like a newspaper. No commentary by the “publisher”.
…Even just a brief remark on why you care about each item enough to share it? Give me a reason to be interested.
I read articles and links because of the contribution the person brings to that article or topic. The contribution doesn’t have to be an essay — sometimes a few words on why they think it’s important is enough.
Umm…. editorials contain editorial. News reports don’t contain editorial, even at the New York Times.
contribution the person brings to that article or topic != editorial
Sure, but Mr. Gemmell used the word editorial. You can add to a topic, and every writer should, but that doesn’t mean all articles need to editorialize.
For instance, telling the world that Apple updated Lion leaves very little room for editorializing.
Semantics, I think. Josh, we’re all saying the same thing when it comes down to it.
Semantics, I think. Josh, we’re all saying the same thing when it comes down to it.
Not sure I agree. There’s a very separate place for opinion and news. A clear distinction needs to be drawn between the facts and my opinion. I happen to agree that there needs to be more editorial in the tech-news world, but not all news invokes editorial needs.
Nobody said anything about opinion and news. I know what you’re going to say next 🙂
That it’s implied in the quote? 😉
Whatever. Gemmell’s point is that if you’re not adding value, STFU.
@macgasm:disqus Like in this post:
I didn’t create the content, but I tried to add something to it.