I was very pleased to get confirmation today that the Huffington Post, a leading US online newspaper, wants me to submit a daily report from the upcoming United Nations intergovermental climate summit to be held next month in Cancun, Mexico. You will be hearing much from me about this event in the coming weeks. For now, it is interesting to note that the Huffington Post has caused some surprise, attracting more readers than many major newspapers. It is massively growing in influence.
It occurs to me that you may find it hard to understand why this is so amazing to me, because it is possible that online publications will be the primary source of news and opinion by the time you get around to reading this. I would really like to look into a crystal ball to find out what the future has in store for the newspaper that you can actually hold in your hands.
This reminds me of the song, Video Killed the Radio Star which celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by television. Released in 1979 by a British pop group called The Buggles, who I'd never heard of before or since this one-hit wonder, this song symbolised the fascinating question about the impact of new technology on society. Thankfully, television didn't kill the radio, which is as imporant to me as the air that I breath.
While I'm delighted to contribute to the Huffington Post, I do hope that growing interest in online media will not destroy the conventional news publishing industry. Time will tell whether the Internet killed the newspaper. Not such a catchy song title.
Grandpa Jonathan
Prague, Czech Republic
