Certified insane
So what did these geniuses come up with? Well, they propose a tax for all Dutch Internet users. You can get your news for free on the Internet - and that should stop. Right now! You - yes you too - need to pay for the fact that newspapers have been unable to innovate and come up with an answer to the needs of a new digital generation and a business model too. With the money they get from this tax they will subsidize old, obsolete media!
In other words: even though I do not read newspapers anymore because I decided (years ago) I did not want to pay for yesterdays news, they would force me to pay for it indirectly?
My God. It's by far the dumbest thing I have heard off.
And you know what: it is the same stupid idea that people came up with when we had the industrial revolution in the 18th century. During that period steam powered devices where gradually replacing manual labour. This off course had a deep impact on all kinds of jobs.
What I mean is this: around 1900 the first automobiles got created and this gradually replaced the horse and carriage. This off course meant that there no longer was a need for blacksmiths making horseshoes. So, people panicked by this new development and politicians came up with plans to tax companies that where using steam powered machines, essentially punishing them for being innovative.
Luckily for us those plans never made it through.
So, blacksmiths had a choice: evolve or become obsolete and die. Just like the dinosaurs did. Indeed, many blacksmiths did disappear because they were unable to evolve. They either didn't know how, or did not want to.
But some survived. They survived because they understood what was going on: times where changing. So they adopted to a new age and started to produce auto parts! In fact many blacksmiths started to build coaches for car builders. Those coachbuilders later had to evolve again because new car manufacturing procedures forced them to mass produce cars (thanks to Henry Ford). And so on. Evolution is a continuing cycle!
So the idea to subsidize something ancient and obsolete like newspapers is just certified insane! Essentially it's rewarding an entire industry for a total lack of innovation and vision!
People, this is exactly the same problem the entertainment industry has. New technology (Mp3) comes with new possibilities and they totally and utterly do not get what it means for their industry. It means that they need to evolve or die! They need to come up with new business models to fit the new situation! Stop protecting the old crappy, outdated technologies!
Newspapers have proven to be utterly incapable of innovation. Their whole production and distribution system is obsolete. So is their business model. The ink hasn't even dried or the news is already old. I can get better information - and faster (real time in fact) - using the Internet. Who needs newspapers? TV and even radio is superior! The whole concept of printing "news" is a contradictio in terminus.
Why the hell is it taking newspapers so long to see that new technology offers so many chances for them? Why can I not get a newspaper subscription using a e-reader using e-paper? Amazon has a nice e-reader and you can get (wireless) subscriptions for that.
The answer my friends, is easy. Just as with the industrial evolution the "old" companies have no answer to new developments but have much to lose. So they turn to the one thing they can do: try to stop progress. The same goes for the auto industry, the energy (oil) industry etc..
If it was up to these companies and this Dutch commision, we would still be using a horse and carriage for transportation. Wars would still be fought with a bow and arrow! We would drink water from a well, cook on a campfire, have an outhouse instead of a toilet, use coal for heating and listen to records instead of MP3's.
But if there is one thing we Dutch should know is that is it utterly pointless to put your finger in the dyke to stop a leak, if the rest of the dyke is completely breached in other places.
Please evolve or die already! Be bold and embrace the future!
Ps: I studied to become a newspaper journalist and worked briefly for some Dutch newspapers/magazine in the early '90's. In 1995, after seeing the potential of the World Wide Web, I immediately switched to digital. Along with just one other journalist in Holland (Francisco van Jole) I published exclusively online on the WWW for about a year and a half. Currently I am a senior project manager at an IT department at a graphical company that is evolving from a print (and print related) company to a "marketing support" company. It is my firm belief that paper and print will be replaced by digital media in some form. Cutting down trees to produce paper is just as dumb as clubbing baby seals to death to get some fur. There are way better and smarter ways to get the same or better results. I believe in a digital life-style and am convinced we are living in the most exiting and promising century in human history!
