Alec East

Just found a great article courtesy of Ben Ayers in the New Statesman from way back in 1999 on the subject of the [then] future of newspapers. The early reference to Fax and Data-lines sets the stage for a beautifully dated article that acts as a reminder of the long-tail nature of the internet  but more interesting is what the benefit of hindsight bestows on the piece.

It is strikingly evident that just as much confusion surrounded the future of newspapers then as it does now. The Sun‘s first stab at online was “currantbun.com“  which tried its hand at being an internet service provider (still with some live user pages)… But more interesting are some of the views from prominent industry leaders of the time.

An alleged quote from  Paul Dacre,  the powerful editor-in-chief of the Mail titles, claims he told his 1998 staff summer party:

“A lot of people say that the Internet is the future for newspapers. Well, I say bullshit.com.”

10 years on the internet is a long, long time – youtube has only been around since 2005 – and I wonder how today’s articles shouting the benefits of social media and the mobile web will read in 5 or 10 years. I’d bet a tenner that those terms will be as dated as information superhighway or cyberspace are today.

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