Archive for February 14th, 2008
14th February 2008
Colofn Golwg
Rhodri Glyn Thomas’ announcement that £600,000 will be available over three years to create a daily Welsh language newspaper has led to the usual accusations of treachery. But is this obsession with the printed press putting medium before content at a time when that exact medium is itself being sidelined by the lure of the web?
There is something very last century about the campaign for a daily newspaper. It reminds a person of the wave of national institutions created in the past, starting on the banks of the Moldau (the Prague area of Eastern Europe), progressing to the West as far as Aberystwyth (as exemplified in the University, Library and Books Council), by a small nucleus of intellectuals in backward countries who wanted to announce their arrival into the modern age through stunning architecture.
It is similar to the call for a national theatre, which has become a reality in Welsh and is about to happen in English as well, albeit not through building a huge building on the banks of the Taff, but through establishing a travelling theatre. After all, a national theatre is more than a building. It is a corpus of work by the crew and actors.
In the same way, its not the paper that’s important in a newspaper but the news and the journalists behind the news. To me, that means avoiding printing costs and focusing investment on current and exciting content – investigative and civic journalism, podcasts and up-dates 24/7.
Rather than playing catch-up with the rest of the world, why not play leap-frog and show the world how to create twenty-first century news? In the current financial climate, its apparent to me that an independent daily newspaper is not practical.
We are therefore faced with three possible options. The least exciting would be to include a Welsh language newspaper within one of the English daily newspapers (a development on the Herald Cymraeg model). I cannot see this expanding the media in Wales as it lacks autonomy and seems to be nothing more than a token gesture.
Secondly, and perhaps more revolutionary, the paper could follow the example of De Tijid from Antwerp in the Netherlands who offer a daily newspaper in the form of electronic ink (which changes daily) on a special gadget provided solely to subscribers – more Blade Runner than Baner ac Amserau Cymru. This would transform Wales overnight from a nation of late developers into innovators.
The third option, and possibly the most practical, perhaps, would be to create only an on-line newspaper. This strategy work for newspapers like the Netzeitung in Berlin or the Taloussanomat in Finland. This isn’t treachery, but an opportunity.
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Mae cyhoeddiad Rhodri Glyn Thomas taw 600,000 o bunnoedd dros tair blynedd fydd ar gael i greu papur newydd dyddiol Cymraeg wedi esgor ar y cyhuddiadau arferol o frad. Ond ydy’r holl obsesiwn gyda gwasg brintiedig yn rhoi cyfrnwg o flaen cynnwys, a hynny ar yr union adeg y mae’r cyfrwng dan sylw yn cael ei brysur ddisodli gan atyniadau heintus y We.
Mae yna rhywbeth canrif-cyn-ddiwethaf am yr ymgyrch dros bapur dyddiol. Mae’n atgoffa dyn o’r don o sefydliadau cenedlaethol grewyd o lannau’r Moldau i’r coleg (a wedyn y llyfrgell a wedyn y cyngor llyfrau) ger y lli gan gnewyllynoedd o ddeallusion mewn cenhedloedd ‘hwyrfrydig’ oedd am ddatgan eu dyfodiad i’r oes fodern ar ffurf pensaerniol campus.
Mae’n ymdebygu i’r alwad am theatr genedlaethol sydd wedi ei wireddu yn Gymraeg ac sydd ar fin digwydd yn Saesneg hefyd - ond, sylwer, nid trwy adeiladu clamp o adeilad ar lannau’r Taf, ond trwy Theatr teithiol. Wedi’r cwbl, nid adeilad ydy theatr genedlaethol, ond corpws o waith a chriw o actorion.
Yn yr un modd, nid papur sydd yn bwysig mewn papur newydd ond y newyddion a‘r newyddurwyr. Ac mae hynny i mi yn golygu osgoi costau argraffu a chanolbyntio’r buddsoddiad ar gynnwys cyfredol, cyffrous - newyddiaduraeth ymchwiliol a dinasyddol, podlediadau a diweddariadau 24/7.
Yn lle ceisio chwarae ‘catch-up’ gyda gweddill y byd, beth am chwarae ‘leap-frog’ a dangos i’r byd sut i greu newyddion ar gyfer yr unfed ganrif-ar-hugain. O fewn yr amlen ariannol sydd mae’n bur amlwg nad ydy papur dyddiol print annibynnol yn ymarferol.
Erys tair opsiwn felly. Y lleiaf gyffrous fasai cynnwys papur Cymraeg yn un o’r papurau boreol Saesneg (yn rhyw fath o ddatblygiad o fodel yr Herald Gymraeg). Dwi ddim yn gweld y byddai hyn yn ehangu llawer ar amrywiaeth cyfryngol yng Nghymru ac mae perygl o dokenistiaeth a diffyg hunianaeth. Yr ail, ac efallai y mwyaf chwyldroadol, fasai i’r papur dilyn esiampl De Tijid o Antwerp yn yr Iseldiroedd a chynnig y papur yn ddyddiol ar inc electronig (sydd yn newid yn ddyddiol) ar declyn arbennig wedi ei ddarparu i danysgrifwyr. Mwy Blade Runner na Baner ac Amserau Cymru, byddai hyn yn trawsnewid Cymru dros nos o fod yn genedl o ddatbygwyr hwyr i fabwyisiadwyr cynnar. Y drydedd opsiwn, a’r un fwyaf hyfyw efallai, fyddai creu papur ar-lein yn unig. Mae’r strategaeth yma yn gweithio i bapurau fel y Netzeitung yn Berlin neu Taloussanomat yn y Ffindir. Nid brad yw hwn, ond cyfle.