Quotes from a recent jounalism.co.uk interview with Kara Swisher (AllThingsD)

“The medium does not matter,” she tells Journalism.co.uk. “It doesn’t matter if they want to print the Wall Street Journal on salami and people want to eat it.”

“Whatever way people want it is fine: it’s the quality and what you’re getting that matters. Old-time journalists focus too much on the delivery system,” she says, adding that it is now much more prestigious to be published online than in print.

“It doesn’t matter how we’re delivered, it’s what we’re delivering. My grandfather used to have a saying: ‘if people are hungry they’ll eat dog food’. Well, I’m not giving them dog food – I’m giving them good food. They can pick good food.

“We’re going to give them high-quality nutritional journalism, instead of forcing them to consume it in a way they don’t want to. Whatever the consumer wants to consume, let them. Treat the consumer as a smart person who knows what they want,” she explains.

“There’s not just a role for just vomiting up information. People want to be told what’s interesting, by smart people. People still want authority; they still want guidance; they still want quality; they still want brand. I do”.

The future is digital and commentators need to move on from endless discussion about the means, she says. Talking about the role of the internet is like constantly referring to the role of air travel, or electricity, she adds.

“You don’t have to fly, but guess what – it’s easier to get to the US by plane instead of getting a boat.”

“Some day we won’t be arguing about it. We won’t be discussing the system. You didn’t get up this morning and say ‘I just signed onto the electrical grid today’ – you don’t care! Journalists have to embrace what’s happening, instead of griping about it,” she adds.

Journalism.co.uk :: Kara Swisher: ‘The medium does not matter, so stop griping about the internet’