A thousand words

[Warren Toda]

Words are about information. Pictures are about emotion. Emotion equals power.

Print folks ... like to believe that words matter still. But, mostly, they don’t.

The people who put together TV newscasts, as well as the best news photographers, have known this truism for a long time, but they’ve kept mostly quiet about it. Perhaps they don’t want to hurt the feelings of their colleagues, who still vainly cling to the belief that the written word can move hearts and minds. But the fact remains ... words don’t matter nearly as much as pictures do.

                                             – from Warren Kinsella, newspaper/magazine columnist, author and political consultant.


Everyone already knew that, right?

Everyone except newspaper editors and newspaper web site designers.

[Ken Gigliotti]

 Right .
 Pictures are used as evidence , they record details of times, places and culture that might ordinarily be lost .Pictures are objective and subjective , they are plain and they are art. They are open to  the imagination, they are specific  and emotional , cold and calculating .Pictures have consequences .
   Basic newspaper  journalism represents “interests “ it is   ,Western World , Canadian , it is   our region and our town . It is local .
  Here in lies  possibility . I can imagine a journalistic  prototype  that allows it's main parts to be controlled by the ones who produce it. It would exclusive as well as local .
  Photographers , videographers , creative department would be partners  with share holders, managers   ,production , and reporters . The product would be more like a micro brewery , or computer start up , than the present newspaper product. 

   It would be a local start up , with local ads , local stories  and would be forward looking and not dependant on the past . It would have news , and commentary and other types of writing . It would be a novel , running tab , a cool drink.  It would be a mixed narrative  of the  last day  and the next day.
   The advertizing would be  orderly  and inside the product .The product itself should be the star with one thing in commom , the love of beer / newsapapers .
The local micro brewery would have its own flavour , look , point of view .
   It would be a day in the life , everyday . The product  would mix stories that are segregated in present newspaper products. It would be 24 hours in order . The product would produce a look of their city , most people would recognize. Concerts and crime , sports and feature all mixed together , as they appear.
 Pictures , print and video projects , words and noise of the city .
A bunch of friends turned loose . Our partnership would be with the community . The point of view would have to be open , with mainstream and contrarian ,left and right , new and old , western and eastern .It could be noise of the coffee shop in the morning , the supper table or the bar at night.
  It could be a living product ,with no ending , a soap  and a  situation comedy / tragedy , birth , struggle , triumph , a life worth living .
Monday and Tuesday should be used to experiment  with futuristic  ideas . Tuesday is next , there is nothing to loose .