MEGO: What happened?

I think, with no new updates since November, it's safe to say that MEGO is no longer an ongoing concern. What happened? A few things:

1) It's really depressing documenting the changes happening in journalism once they've reached the doorsteps of friends and colleagues. I know the industry has to embrace a lot of cold, hard reality, but it doesn't make it any less painful when jobs are lost and friends are set adrift.

2) I began writing about similar topics as MEGO for the Huffington Post and it's hard to serve two masters (especially when the number of people reading my work there is a thousand-fold over what it is here).

3) Much of the work that's the most fun--pointing to great pieces about the evolution of publishing and journalism--I'm doing much more efficiently on Twitter, and it's hard to add additional context here as well.

4) I can write about what I think journalism needs to embrace in order to reach its new golden age (really!), but it's more important to teach it, which is where much of my energy is going now. If you're at all interested in that level of granularity, you can follow along.

5) I have a lot of other interesting projects in the works and only a scant few hours in a day to dedicate to them all. Here's one of them, which is now ready (enough) to show off.

So that's where I'm at right now. That's not to say that MEGO may not be revived at some point in the future, but it's to say that at present it's best to find me other places. If all this is too much to follow, it's probably easiest to follow along at the Metablog, which collects all my various online activity (including a TON of journalism-related links).

Thanks so much for enthusiastically reading MEGO for all this time! See you around the web.

--Dan

Newspaper's fading election glory

A Pew Research study says that the internet has become the second-most cited source for election news after TV. Newspapers now hold the number three spot.

It's a pretty stark reminder, during this season of heightened interest in political news, just how far from their heyday newspapers have now fallen. No longer thought of as even the runner-up source of news, they're relegated to third place. I suppose it's better than the fate of radio, huh?

now read this: The Multi-Media Election

There's no better barometer for the changes afoot in media than looking at the technology that's driving this presidential election forward. Here's a very good overview of the massive shift in tech usage this election, from YouTube to social networks and all points in between:

But what’s of interest here is not how one media form compares to another — it’s how new media and old media are pushing and pulling both ways, vying for audience (power), learning from and reacting to the other.

now read this: a crackerjack analysis of circulation declines

Recovering Journalist offers a depressing, but excellent analysis of circulation trends. Well worth a read (preferably with a lot of scotch at hand):

The declines over the past two years are disproportionately large compared to the seven- and 12-year spans–again, despite growing population and, until recently, a healthy economy. In other words, the circulation slide is worsening. It's hard to see, especially with the economy in the tank, any sort of moderation of the downward trend. And that, in turn, chases off advertisers and leads to even more budget-cutting pain.

now read this: Newspaper endorsements mapped

InfoChimps has a great visualization of the newspaper endorsements for the 2008 presidential election.

How low can it go? Newspaper circulation drops again

Another day, another doomsday for print news. The latest circulation numbers are out and they're nasty.

But, there's still hope. Newspapers stay strong in Japan, thanks to a 27 year long decline in birth rates! The number of young people in Japan hasn't been lower since 1908. So there's the new model: Kill the youth. I'm sure it's been floated in some board meeting by now.

Googling the election results

An update to my primary-season look at the way Google search volume closely mirrors national polling data is up now on the Huffington Post. And it ain't good news for McCain