Tomorrow will be different.

I must confess that the name of Seth Godin was new to me until recently, since when I have read his blogs with some interest. Earlier this week my attention was drawn to a new blog on his website. “Who will save us?” is the heading of the piece, and he goes on to argue that nothing can save us from change. Well that’s hardly an original thought is it? The rest of his blog poses more questions than it answers. First it asks “Who will save us?”…Well there are hundreds of religions all over the world that would say they have the answer to that question…I wouldn’t attempt it until I knew what we needed to be saved from. If we are hoping to be saved from change I would agree with Seth; change is as much a part of our life as breathing. But that shouldn’t mean that all that has gone before should be cast aside…forgotten. The trick is to understand who is initiating the change, why the change is necessary and how we can make the new situation serve us better. 
 
The answers to his other questions are much more straightforward. Who will save book publishing?… The Readers, probably not as we know it to day but in some form or another. To hold a book, the environment in which you read it, to understand it’s message, appreciate it’s beauty, luxuriate in the feel of the paper and to be able to easily refer back to it, the satisfaction of ownership; all this will “Save” the industry because there is no substitute for any of these experiences. Look at it this way. If people long ago had taken the view that no one was going to read books in the future, those volumes of wisdom from antiquity, the plays of the great writers, and the thoughts of all those with incredible minds past, present and future would be lost. No! Books will survive, Seth is completely wrong in his assertion that “It’s over”.
 
Saving newspapers though is a different matter. Before any saving activity can be instituted there, it must first be decided why they exist at all. In past times they were launched and owned by someone with something to say. Their newspapers reflected their owners’ views it is true, but they also informed and entertained, they understood what their readers liked and disliked. But their prime function was act as the cornerstone of free speech. To give a voice to whoever had something to say. To empower those who were powerless. To ensure that those in powerful positions couldn’t misuse their power. To clarify all the complicated activity in the world and make understandable political matters to those least able to understand the subject. Nowadays they are owned by corporations with attitude and a private agenda, maybe even owned by organisations outside the country in which they are published. These are changes that do not seem to have helped newspapers maintain their prominence, but to say that their time is over is nonsense. They will survive but probably in a different form, just as the form they are in now is very different to that which obtained not that long ago.
 
The tone of Seth Godin’s blog suggests to me that he thinks the advent of electronic media is the death knell of the printed word on paper. If I am misreading his words or misunderstanding his intent I apologise but if my understanding is correct then I must respectfully disagree with him. There is absolutely no reason that I can see why the two forms of media and any others that come along, as surely they will, cannot co-exist. If they do not mankind stands to lose something very precious. Given that the whole structure and content of media will constantly change it follows that the jobs and activities within them will change too. As to Congress or Parliament or any other seat of government making changes in the functions of the media…well I view that as a different kettle of fish altogether. That is the stuff revolutions are made of!
 
To close, let me repeat the words of a very wise man I once worked with. He said; “Remember, the only thing certain about tomorrow is that it will be different to what you think it will be”. His words are as true now as they were then.