Comments on: NUJ’s new media rep a ‘proud luddite’

By: Stephen Newton

Stephen Newton — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:41:15 +0000

Hi Donnacha
I’m sure we can learn from the Luddites; a certain conservatism is understandable and justified, but change is inevitable. The union’s role will obviously evolve too, but it is the power of media owners that is most immediately undermined. I suspect the citizen journalists will come to recognise the importance of professionalism and the union will have a role to play in empowering them.

By: Donnacha DeLong

Donnacha DeLong — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:56:22 +0000

Hi Stephen,
I did point out in the piece that:
“Their tactics — sabotage and destruction of the new machinery — was an extreme response to extreme circumstances.”

For many at the time, the destruction of their trade by the industrial revolution was a matter of life and death – that’s clearly not the case now.

You say:
“The real challenge is to craft new business models that continue to reward professional journalism.”

I agree completely, people continually fail to mention that I’ve been a professional online journalist for around a decade. However, I’m continually faced by people who don’t get online journalism, who don’t see that it’s a new kind of journalism, one where usability and accessibility, where interactivity and multimedia working, are essential.

My opposition to the undermining of professional journalism online isn’t as crude as the Luddites, I’m not smashing computers as I go. However, the spirit of opposition of the Luddites might not have saved them, but it did plant the seeds of trade unionism, which is my main tool now in the fight for quality journalism online. As a result, I don’t accept that I’m wrong to embrace my predecessors.

By: Rob Artisan

Rob Artisan — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 19:07:46 +0000

Stephen,

I might be a Luddite by nature as I think most of us are, but we have to continually review and change if we are to survive and prosper, that and a bit of luck

Rob