Grave Dancing New-Media Gurus

We've been highly critical of new-media gurus and their dismissive condescending view of radio. Ron Rosenbaum of Slate recently vented about Jeff Jarvis, a high profile new media guru and blogger. Read his entire column here. While Rosenbaum was writing about journalists, we couldn't help but think of radio's own gurus, those who dismiss radio's role in today's multi-media world.

We've substituted radio people for journalists in the following quote to make the connection clear:

He's now visibly running for New Media Pontificator in Chief. He began treating his own thoughts as profound and epigrammatic, PowerPoint-paradoxical, new-media-mystical. He acquired the habit of proclaiming "Jarvis' Laws" of new media, acting like a prophet, a John the Baptist if not the messiah. (Although he knows who the messiah is. He's about to publish a book of Google worship—What Would Google Do?—that makes that clear.)

Meanwhile, he's become increasingly heartless about (radio people) and other "content providers" who have been put out on the street by the changes in the industry. Not only does he blame the victims, he denies them the right to consider themselves victims. They deserve their miserable fate—and if they don't know it, he'll tell them why at great length. Sometimes it sounds as if he's virtually dancing on their graves.

Radio today has more than its share of grave dancers. These self-proclaimed prophets are here to sell books and pat themselves on the back for their prescience. Reading Rosenbaum's column is a good antidote against the kool-aid new-media gurus peddle.