A number of academic and commercial forecasters have suggested that the media of the future will involve as much activity on the side of the consumer of news as it does on the side of the provider of that information. The news customer of the future will gather information from personalized sources as well as sources intended for a mass audience. The ends of this spectrum of activity correspond to the range of possible positions between local and global news perspectives.
Predictor: Ritzenhaler, Gary
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Computer-Mediated Communication magazine, Gary Ritzenhaler, assistant editor of the Florida Compass, a student-run “WWW news prototype,” writes:”The new market access available to small-circulation papers also has its dark side: the specter of increased competition. If I can access the Washington Post as easily as I get my local paper, how will my local paper be affected? What will happen to both parties when the Gainesville Sun goes head-to-head against its parent New York Times in the information service arena? Which of these two paradigms, these two approaches to the nature of online community, is more likely to lead to readers, subscribers, success? My suspicion is that both will be possible avenues to prosperity in the media marketplace of the future. A number of academic and commercial forecasters have suggested that the media of the future will involve as much activity on the side of the consumer of news as it does on the side of the provider of that information. The news customer of the future will gather information from personalized sources as well as sources intended for a mass audience. The ends of this spectrum of activity correspond to the range of possible positions between local and global news perspectives.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Journalism/Media
Name of publication: Computer-Mediated Communication
Title, headline, chapter name: Pyxis Cyberea
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1994/jun/pyxis.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney