The iPad may rekindle magic of newspapers

Umapagan Ampikaipakan
New Straits Times
02-08-2011
The iPad may rekindle magic of newspapers
Byline: Umapagan Ampikaipakan
Edition: Main/Lifestyle
Section: Main Section

EXACTLY one year on and Apple's iPad is the perfect example of revolution by evolution. Of invention by innovation. It's triumph owing to more than just sex appeal, to more than just that sunshine- soaked tangerine Kool-Aid of Apple's marketing machine.

Instead, it was about taking a struggling concept - in this case, tablet computing - and redefining it. Steve Jobs and his merry elves in Cupertino didn't invent the standard, they merely gave it a new identity. As something of an intermediary between your mobile phone and laptop computer. A portable device that, in many ways, served a simple purpose: consumption. Not creation. Not work. One that targeted the consumer and not the techie.
It is the singular secret to its success. It didn't replace your existing devices. Your mobile phone would still be your primary communications tool. Your personal computer would still be where you did most of your work. The iPad, on the other hand, was merely a platform, a blank slate - no pun intended - that was infinitely adaptable. You could listen to your music. You could watch movies. You could play games. You could read books, magazines and newspapers. Its potential was staggering.

Before you knew it, media outlets began releasing their very own custom applications. The Wall Street Journal. Financial Times. New York Times. Vanity Fair. Esquire. Wired. It even inspired Richard Branson to return his magazine publishing roots and create the iPad only magazine, Project.

Suddenly, every major publication had a digital presence. It was cool. It was hip. But the verdict was still out on whether or not it made any difference with regards to actual sales and circulation. It was still uncertain on how the product and the platform best integrated. Because while their efforts were to be applauded, they still felt somewhat lacking. The magazines being mere digitised versions, with some occasional interactivity thrown in for good measure; a video here, an info-graphic there. The newspapers being some sort of amalgamation, some rough approximation, between their print and Web versions.

The print media seemed to be stuck in a rut. Unable to make that leap between analogue and digital. There was an all important middle ground yet to be uncovered. Because there were some things about the traditional form that still worked. The Web was too frenetic. Constantly changing, updating itself. The eternal news cycle meant that priorities kept shifting on a whim.

It catered for a short attention span. Sporadic bursts of information that were more sound bite than anything else. "More to come." "Updating soon."

There is comfort in the newspaper, in the magazine, in the notion of something static that presented a particular viewpoint for a particular period of time. Something well thought out. Actual analysis instead of just some twitch of the mind. Ideological. Permanent. Potentially even considered.

Enter Rupert Murdoch and The Daily. An iPad only newspaper, built from the ground up, backed by Apple and bankrolled by News Corp. It is an attempt to embrace the platform and without reservation. It is emulating Apple's formula of revolution through evolution. It is rethinking how the newspaper should function in the digital age. "New times demand new journalism," Murdoch said. "The iPad demands that we completely re-imagine our craft."

Because it should progress past the idea of just a digital version. It should be custom content, where text and hypertext work seamlessly together. Where sharp writing and multimedia content complement rather than just supplement one another. And what you're left with is "the newspaper of the 21st century". Something that builds upon the foundations of traditional journalism but possesses the sensibilities of a modern day digital magazine.

The economics may still be a challenge. Convincing people to subscribe for content they can otherwise get for free is something that no one has quite figured out. But the way to bridge that gap has always been by providing unique and original content. By finding a niche. By creating a sort of hybrid between the walled garden of traditional print and the open, immediacy of the Internet. By trying to rekindle that "magic of newspapers".

All in the hope that "serendipity and surprise and the deft touch of a good editor" is enough to keep this medium alive.

(Copyright 2011)