'Ignore the fringes'

Dan Gillmor, a respected newspaper journalist who's now a central figure amongst those pondering the future of news, had a thoughtful piece in the S.F. Chronicle Thursday that's well worth your attention.

A taste:

Try to ignore the fringes of this conversation: the old-guard doomsayers and/or elitists who see nothing but woe for journalism, and the tech-triumphalists and/or media haters who can't wait to see today's system blown to utter shreds. These are vapid, false choices. Let's work to keep the best of traditional media.

Meanwhile, smart people -- including the ones working for traditional media companies, most of which are still quite profitable even as trends work against them -- will invent, discover and use democratized media tools to create updated and new kinds of journalistic products and services. The journalistic ecosystem could end up healthier in the end, if we get this right

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