Moving beyond 'multimedia'

I wrote to someone just the other day that "I have a problem with the term 'multimedia.'" Just as I have a problem with "citizen journalism." Now I see that the Press Gazette reports that the Press Association (UK) is phasing out "multimedia:"

Multimedia editor John Angeli, who joined PA from the BBC in 2006, takes the new role of head of content, responsible “overseeing the integration of content across text, photos, video and graphics”. There will be no new multimedia editor post at PA, and the company has said it plans to phase out use of the term multimedia.

Back in January 2003 I met with about 20 other of the Usual Suspects at a think-tank session in Zurich, Switzerland, organized by my friend Norbert Specker. One thing we all agreed on: The major breakthroughs would come as "onliners" moved up the ladder to take senior positions at media companies, displacing others who could only think about protecting the past. Every step like this is a good thing. It's not just "print journalism, plus this
multimedia thing over in the corner that we cooperate with if we feel
like it."

Comments

You mean we're all "just" journalists? What a futuristic idea, Steve!