I’ll be sure get around to do a full review of the book at some later date but I thought I should commit to writing my thoughts on this particular chapter in Warren Kinsella’s book “The War Room.”
War Room provides an intriguing and entertaining guide to the techniques of political savagery. Precious intellectual discussion isn’t Kinsella’s field and this holds true for the book. In the chapter titled “Lesson Nine: Get Modern,” Kinsella provides a luddite’s view of the technical realm that echoes what he says on his blog.
However, one particular statement caught my attention because it’s something Taylor Owen, David Eaves, countless others and myself have been saying for some time and I’m glad that it’s taken traction with (at least some of) the political elite (former or current)
Many newspapers have responded to the blogger threat in precisely the wrong way. Instead of making content easier to access, like blogs do, a few newspapers have placed some or all of their content behind subscription walls and registration forms and whatnot. That wouldn’t be a problem if (a) Internet-age people were in any way patient and (b) Internet-age people believed in paying and/or registering for things online….In the new media environment, everyone is cheap and in a rush: they’re used to getting stuff for free and in a matter of seconds too.
So where’s the missing piece? What does the CTVGlobeMedia (owners of the Globe & Mail) understand that we (Taylor, David, Mr. Kinsella, the entire blogosphere, the NYT and myself) do not understand?