D.D. Jackson

I am a two-time Emmy Award-winning composer, producer, and Juno Award-winning jazz pianist and educator. As a composer, I specialize in writing, arranging, and producing memorable, custom-made music for t.v., film & other media. I consider myself an "artistic problem solver": I strive to get to the essential conceptual truth of what the client is looking for - and to express it in a creative and supportive way. [READ MORE] or [BIO]

Live from Cambodia: thoughts on my IAJE panel (2 of 2)

January 13, 2006  /  D.D. Jackson

 Times Select (a new “service”by the New York Times in which they obligate people to pay extra to read the daily columns of notable NYTimes personalities such as Maureen Dowd) has proven, admittedly, that people are willing pay for GOOD writing. Perhaps a journalist building a conspicuous online presence through blogging and other promotional tools can ultimately get fans to commit to paying for content, particularly if paired with a broader-based goal such as a book. Certainly, this would be the Artistshare model at work and I believe there’s already at least one journalist on Artistshare trying it.

Certainly, it IS a new age and journalists will have to adjust like everyone else. But I think it’s also a liberating age, one in which the responsibility for sifting through and extracting the “good”information out there is falling more and more upon the hands of the consumers, versus relying upon broader corporate structures to make such decisions for us. While some in the panel’s audience bemoaned this fact, I think it’s a healthy development, and that consumers are a lot more discerning than we give them credit for; as Dewey Redman used to tell me, “the cream will always rise to the top”, and consumers will find a way to find it.