1. The Internet Is Destroying Democracy What You Can Must Do Chris Herbert Values Day June 27, 2008

2. THIS IS WHAT I’M GOING TO TALK ABOUT • Democracy Needs Newspapers • Democracy requires a free and independent press • Newspaper journalists are the backbone of the press • Newspapers Are Dying • Newspapers are in danger of going out of business • Who will watch the Watchmen? • The Internet Can Save Democracy • The Chris Herbert 5 Step Action Plan

3. NEWSPAPERS ARE THE BEDROCK OF DEMOCRACY • …and journalists have fought corruption for hundreds of years • The USA was founded on the idea of a free press… • Watergate • Walter Reed • Abuse In the Catholic Church • Anne Arundel County Fire Chief Dismissed After Bumbling Reporter Stumbles On Corruption Story1 • “Democracy does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority to set brush fires in people’s minds. • Samuel Adams • Here’s the Pattern… • Institutions Do “Stuff” Most television reporters read the newspaper over the air, and send a cameraman out for some footage. • Newspaper Journalists Tell Us About “Stuff” • “Stuff” Changes 1 Some liberties taken with headline. See Baltimore Sun archives at http://tinyurl.com/4mvan2

4. Higher readership segments • Circulation declines are accelerating • And young people are getting news from other sources (if at all) NEWSPAPERS ARE IN TROUBLE: READERSHIP IS DECLINING • Weekday newspaper readership by age group • 1999 • 1987 • 1967 • 18-24 • 25-34 • 35-44 • 45-54 • 55-64 • 65+ Source: Journalism.org; Department of Education; Simmons; NAA Facts About Newspapers 2000

5. 10 Consumer Surplus NEWSPAPERS ARE IN TROUBLE: CLASSIFIED REVENUE IS EVAPORATING • Typical Newspaper Company • 100% • Circulation • 20% • 100% • 100% • 25% • Classified Ads • 35% • “We are just trying to give people a break.” • Craig Newmark • Craigslist.org • 30% • 20% • 0% • 40% • 40% • Display Ads • 40% • 10% • 5% • Online • 20% • 1% • 10% • Other • 4% • 2015 • 2007 • 2000 • Newspapers?

6. NEWSPAPERS ARE IN TROUBLE: STOCKS ARE DOWN ~75% OVER LAST 5 YEARS • Stock Price History – Last 5 Years • Gannett, New York Times, McClatchy, Media General • 75% • Most experts agree that the major metropolitan dailies will be the first to go out of business. Source: Google Finance

7. WHO WILL WATCH THE WATCHMEN? • The analogy doesn’t work great. But it does give me a chance to plug one of my favorite books • Plug: The Watchmen, by Alan Moore, is an excellent read. • It is the only graphic novel on Time Magazine’s Top 100 English Language novels from 1923 to the present. • And it’s coming soon to a theater near you… • Without journalists, who will check government corruption? • Who will inform the people? • “The title, therefore, refers to the idea of superheroes, police, the government, or any group of people who assume the responsibility of protecting others from themselves.”

8. 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 THE CHRIS HERBERT 5 STEP ACTION PLAN • Pass On The Good Stuff • Stay Informed • Take The Power Back • Create Original Content • Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

9. 1 STAY INFORMED • Use RSS Feeds to stay up to date on your favorite stuff • Content Creators • Feed Readers • Your own personal customized newspaper • Aggregates content from all your favorite sources • Offline access for airplane reading • “Share” feature creates “The Internet, As Edited by Chris Herbert” • Where do I start? • Sign up for Google Reader • Subscribe to a few feeds. See appendix for a list of recommendations • Google stuff you’re interested in, and just look for the RSS symbol See http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/index.htmlfor an excellent description of how RSS feeds work.

10. 2 PASS ON THE GOOD STUFF • Where do I start? Google Juice • We may not be able to count on journalists to edit for us for much longer • The best doesn’t always rise to the top. We need to give it a push • Search is king on the Internet • Quote about Google Juice • It is our responsibility to link to and talk about the best stuff, so it rises to the top • Best product reviews on the Internet (way more than just books) • Restaurants, shopping, nightlife With great power comes great responsibility… • Vote content to the top • Excellent tool for sharing content in your network

11. 3 TAKE THE POWER BACK • Democracy depends on the free flow of information • 2 of my favorite websites, Kayak & Zillow, are providing information to consumers that is actually useful and actionable. • Others? • Best site ever for planning travel • Great site for stalking your coworkers • Handy text message feature provides an instant estimate of a home’s value (whether or not it’s for sale) • 1 of many tools we used last year to sell our condo – saved us a $12,000 broker’s fee

12. 4 CREATE ORIGINAL CONTENT • Why should I blog? • Responsibility to share ideas • Society is becoming increasingly isolated…most meaningful interaction is happening online • What about privacy? • Don’t share anything you wouldn’t mind reading about on the front page of the WSJ • Where do I start? • Easiest platform to learn; not flexible • Astronauts are blogging (@marsphoenix) • You could get a job (@ryankuder) • Egyptian jails probably aren’t fun (@jamesbuck) • Most flexible platform, requires some tinkering

13. 100 • 5 PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS • Obama Feb ‘08 Fundraising Transactions1 • The Internet is transforming politics • 100% = • 28 million • 90% of Obama’s Feb ’08 fundraising transactions came from donors who gave <$100 • 10% • >$100 • Fundraising efforts are increasingly fueled by individual donors • 40% • $25 - $100 • Sites like meetup.com are facilitating grassroots efforts • 50% • < $25 • It’s never been easier to engage in the debate • Feb ‘08 • 4 Years Is A Long Time! • Get involved. 1 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/us/politics/20obama.html?ex=1361250000&en=b49d183460cc591c&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

14. Other Stuff I Didn’t Really Address • Shouldn’t I be worried about privacy? • Anonymity & Accountability • How Awesome is Wikipedia? • Why don’t people use our office blog?

15. The Internet Is Destroying Democracy What You Can Must Do Chris Herbert Values Day June 27, 2008

16. A FEW OF MY FAVORITE RSS FEEDS • Newspaper feeds • http://feeds.feedburner.com/EditorAndPublisher-BreakingNews • http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper.xml • http://feeds.feedburner.com/NewspaperDeathWatch • http://www.poynter.org/media/rss/romenesko.xml • http://feeds.feedburner.com/BuzzMachine • TV • http://feeds.feedburner.com/MultichannelBreakingNews • Humor • http://feeds.theonion.com/theonion/daily • http://feeds.theonion.com/theonion/photos • http://feeds.feedburner.com/leveragedsellout/lCfw • http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/index.rdf • http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/feed/ • http://forksplit.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default • http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSecretDiaryOfSteveJobs • Other Cool Stuff • http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/ZcLO • http://lifehacker.com/software/top/index.xml • http://feeds.feedburner.com/Photojojo • http://feeds.portfolio.com/portfolio/oddnumbers • http://rssfeeds.s3.amazonaws.com/goldboxhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/Footnotedorg • Tech/Internet • http://feeds.feedburner.com/AVc • http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/rss2.xml • http://blog.pmarca.com/index.rdf • http://feeds.feedburner.com/37signals/beMH • http://feeds.feedburner.com/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider • Media • http://blogs.wsj.com/informedreader/feed/ • http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/MediaandAdvertising.xml • http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/cccZ • Personal Finance • http://feeds.feedburner.com/thesimpledollar • Economics • http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/atom.xml • http://robertghansen.blogspot.com/atom.xml • Stamford • http://managermom.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default • http://feeds.feedburner.com/AlwaysHomeAndUncool • http://blogstamford.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default • http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/atom.xml • http://danmalloy.wordpress.com/feed • http://www.mrstamford.com/feed • http://feeds.feedburner.com/StamfordTalk

17. A FEW STARTER FEEDS FOR TWITTER • Source: Silicon Alley Insider • @nytimes: Breaking news from The New York Times' homepage. Also specialized streams for world and national headlines, business news, sports, arts, science, etc. • @techmeme: Top headlines from Techmeme, the pulse of tech news, analysis, and, um, other stuff. There's also the Techmeme Firehose if you don't want to miss anything. • @amazon: The unofficial Amazon book finder bot. Follow @amazon and send it a direct message with a book's title or ISBN. It will message you back the price on Amazon -- a good way to see if a book is cheaper at Amazon or your local book store. • @theonion: The fake news -- often more interesting and less depressing than the real news! Also includes links to their audio and (excellent) video reports. • @new_music: New music for music snobs, maintained by NYT technologist Michael Young. A feed of Pitchfork and Metacritic reviews "over 7ish." • @lotd: The lyric of the day -- a feed of song lyrics -- started up by Twitter investor (and avid Tweeter) Fred Wilson. • @shakeshack: Madison Square Park's Shake Shack is known for its burgers, shakes -- and its line. "Got a report on Shake Shack line length? Looking share a table with other hungry Shackburger-loving Twits? Send an update to @shakeshack." • @alleyhour: Like @shakeshack, but for Silicon Alley-types looking for after-work drinking buddies. "Organize impromptu drinks in NYC." • @alleyfeed: Self promotion! The latest headlines from Silicon Alley Insider, automatically fed via Twitter. Also follow @alleyinsider for more select updates and information. http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/5/ten_news_information_twitter_feeds_you_should_follow