One of my favorite articles ever is a feature on life aboard a rusty Philippine naval vessel on the Spratly Islands, published online by the New York Times (NYT).Punctuated by short video clips, animated graphics and pictures, “A Game of Shark and Minnow” by Jeff Himmelman is certainly more than an essay with an embedded YouTube video attached at the end—and it completely changed how I saw digital journalism and multimedia.
Which is why it came a surprise to me that the NYT’s 2014 Innovation Report revealed that the 163-year-old print publication is spending too much time fixated on “Page One,” and not enough on digital media. The internal report, leaked to Buzzfeed’s Myles Tanzer, caused quite the stir.
Had the report been released 10—maybe even five—years ago, the idea of becoming a “digital-first” publication would have been criticized. Cynics and lovers of print (myself included) would have attested to the power of turning tangible pages: Print is not dead. In 2014, however, the NYT’s report is something to be taken seriously. Although print isn’t dead—I doubt it ever will be—it has definitely been relocated to the bottom shelf.
The situation is almost—but not quite—the same over on this side of the world. News organizations have come up with their own online media branches, like GMA News Online and The Philippine Star’s Philstar.com. Their attempts have been relatively successful, judging by their Twitter feeds and websites. The one that takes the cake, however, is Rappler, the most popular local news organ that decided to skip print entirely and go straight to digital.
It makes sense: When you’re starting up a business, the Internet is relatively cheaper than print, much more relevant, and accessible. ‘Zines like Kamusta? and the now-defunct Stache never went into print. Still, it seems as though success in Philippine publishing is measured by being able to compete with local print publishing giants.
Centuries-old publications are trying to move forward, while new ones are, in a sense, trying to take a step back; both situations have led to abrupt changes in the recent year. Last April, after running regularly for three years, Stache magazine announced that their 20th issue would be their last. Their farewell, however, was bittersweet, with the promise of a new project in the works.
The next month, in a newsroom on the other side of the world, the NYT fired their first female executive editor, Jill Abramson, five years before her due. The cause of her dismissal was reported to be her problematic leadership, though many speculated it was due to her receiving a much smaller salary than her male predecessor.
Whatever the cause for either situation, one thing is clear: Both publications are restless for change—with good reason. At present, it doesn’t make sense anymore to measure journalistic success by the number of copies sold. As the NYTworks to keep up and consistently create more content like “A Game of Shark and Minnow,”—or its predecessor, “Snow Fall”—there’s a challenge to come up with the same, or even, better. In light of these developments, perhaps it’s time for all publications to embrace the digital-first frame of mind.
