Thomas Frost's Page

When Richard Burton opened his lecture with the words "print is not dead", it felt like a ten-tonne weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

One consistent theme from guest lecturers, that the medium is changing and newspaper sales are in decline.

Encouragingly, Burton reinforced the fact there is no replacement for professional standards in journalism, incorporating accuracy, good English and a defined audience. This is traditionally found within newspapers.

This serves as a poignant reminder that blogs and much online opinion is devoid of professional regulation.

Professional online journalism is placed within the brand of core values firmly established by newspapers. Without this grounding and historical precedent the online alternatives struggle to compete.

It is because of the newspaper, online newspapers exists. The prestige, political conviction and style of newspapers means online versions can become successes and extensions of already established businesses.

We are reminded the choice of medium by which we choose to digest the news is wider than ever, there are also distinct limitations. In the online world, the textual reporting of news constrained to the limitations of the search engine. The newspaper is more fluid in terms of headline, length, detail and prose.

Burton suggested whilst convergence is inevitable, the speed of technical development means newsroom integration is difficult. The world of online and newspaper will eventually reside in the same house but I now feel we won't be saying prayers at the edifice of newspapers just yet. Print is alive, long live the print!!!