Comments on: Canned obits: Why bother anymore? http://steveouting.com/2008/08/28/canned-obits-why-bother-anymore/ Journalist, consultant, entrepreneur ... Musings on digital media, Web 2.0/3.0, & news in the Internet era Wed, 02 May 2012 20:38:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Working Reporter http://steveouting.com/2008/08/28/canned-obits-why-bother-anymore/comment-page-1/#comment-6220 Working Reporter Sun, 31 Aug 2008 17:58:42 +0000 http://steveouting.com/?p=562#comment-6220 Why have canned obits? Because, frankly, the obits newspapers write tend to be enormously more interesting, accurate, complete and enjoyable to read than is any other source of information about the person's life. Read any Washington Post appreciation and compare it with the Wikipedia entry on that person's life and I'm sure you'll see the difference. This isn't about providing basic facts. This is about trying to sum up a significant life in a thoughtful, informative, interesting way -- yet having that reflection available within a day or a few hours of a person's death. If your argument is valid -- that producing a news obit is unnecessary because the information is but a click away -- than by extension, all news and even most written work of any kind is obsolete, since at this point nearly all information is but a click away. I think a world where there are skilled writers helping to find, organize and share that information in a way that is insightful, enjoyable and emotional is a more interesting world than one composed entirely of links to the basic data. You, of course, may disagree. But if you do, please don't write anything thoughtful to that effect. A link will suffice. Why have canned obits? Because, frankly, the obits newspapers write tend to be enormously more interesting, accurate, complete and enjoyable to read than is any other source of information about the person’s life. Read any Washington Post appreciation and compare it with the Wikipedia entry on that person’s life and I’m sure you’ll see the difference.

This isn’t about providing basic facts. This is about trying to sum up a significant life in a thoughtful, informative, interesting way — yet having that reflection available within a day or a few hours of a person’s death.

If your argument is valid — that producing a news obit is unnecessary because the information is but a click away — than by extension, all news and even most written work of any kind is obsolete, since at this point nearly all information is but a click away.

I think a world where there are skilled writers helping to find, organize and share that information in a way that is insightful, enjoyable and emotional is a more interesting world than one composed entirely of links to the basic data.

You, of course, may disagree. But if you do, please don’t write anything thoughtful to that effect. A link will suffice.

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