the innovation gap: newsrooms vs communications tech

Parallel Tracks of Innovation in the Communications Technology

and News Media Sectors

Since the dawn of the modern Information Age, we have seen great achievements in communications technology. Increasingly however, the companies creating the distribution channels and those working on content are innovating on parallel tracks. Many fields, such as biotech, offer rich collaborations across a central ecosystem, where academic institutions, researchers and a variety of for-profit and government organizations innovate towards a common goal. When it comes to news, the future is being created by myriad companies building the infrastructure, tools, code repositories, devices and platforms for whom content is required but quality journalism is an afterthought.

This timeline catalogs the most significant developments in each sector. (Achievements in storytelling were not included unless they involved the use of a new technology that was either developed by or used in a new way by the news organization.) Notably, news organizations transitioned in the early 1990s from innovating the means of newsgathering and dissemination to forming joint ventures, associations and coalitions, many of which were discontinued shortly after launching.

Innovations in Communication Technology Innovations in News/ Entertainment Technology

1980

1981

Local Area Network software developed by Novell.

IBM develops first personal computer. Microsoft hired to create new OS.

Color TVs start to replace black and white TVs in American households.

Fiber optics start to provide digital signals for phone and computer.

Sony’s Walkman launches in the U.S. and U.K.

CNN launches.

Columbus Dispatch becomes the first newspaper online, followed by the WaPo, NYT, Minn Star Tribune, SF Chronicle, SF Examiner, LAT, AJC and others.

Commercial videotex service launched by Belo Information Systems (publisher of Dallas Morning News). AT&T and Knight-Ridder TEST experimental videotex service.

CPB has telextx trials at PBS station WETA.

Dow Jones News/Retrieval system launches.

The NYT Infobank database offers stories in full-text.

BITNET computer network launches at CUNY.

Hayes Smartmodem is introduced (300 bps).

Universities are using online bulletin boards.

MTV launches.

London (Ontario) Free Press offers videotext machines with touchscreen capability.


1982

1983

Lotus 1-2-3 is released.

Database management software dBase is released.

Sony and Philips each create technology to mass-produce CDs.

TCP/IP become standard protocols for ARPANET.

Apple launches the Lisa, the first personal computer with a GUI.

Tandy launches one of the first personal laptop computers.

The Internet Engineering Task Force publishes the Domain Name System.

ARPANET splits into ARPANET for researchers and MILNET for the military.

MIDI is introduced, paving the way for synth pop.

Microsoft announces Word.

USA Today launches.


1984

1985

Toshiba invents flash memory.

Sony launches the portable CD player Discman in Japan.

Apple Computer launches the Macintosh, the first commercially successful computer with a GUI and mouse.

Windows is released.

Nintendo releases video game console.

80386, a 32-bit microprocessor, is released by Intel.

The National Science Foundation forms NSFNET, linking five university supercomputing centers together.

C++ becomes the predominant programming language.

Knight-Ridder Vu/Text database service launches with full-text editions of the Philadelphia Inquirer and others.

Steve Case and his team create Quantum Computer Services and launch the commercial Q-Link online service.

Larry Brilliant and Stewart Brand launch The WELL.

Knight-Ridder launches PressLink to distribute infographics and photos.

Eric Thomas creates LISTSERV.

David Miller at AT&T Bell Labs patents the optical transistor.

Thinking Machines Corp. advances artificial intelligence with massive parallelism in the Connection Machine..


Adobe Illustrator launches.

The MPEG working group is established, sets MP3 as a digital format.

Prodigy dial-up service launches commercially.

Steve Jobs launches the NeXT.

Robert Morris sends a nondestructive worm through ARPANET, affecting one-tenth of the network hosts.

Pixar’s “Tin Toy” is the first computer-animated film to win an Oscar.

The Hamilton (Ontario) Spectator launches a BBS site.

Pixar is founded.

1986

1987

1988

Tim Berners-Lee writes his original proposal for the World Wide Web.

Nintendo launches its Game Boy system.

Microsoft announces its 68040 microprocessor, which has an unprecedented 1.2 million transistors.

At Siggraph’s annual convention, the Silicon Graphics booth shows new “virtual reality” technology.


The World Wide Web prototype is created at CERN.

Photoshop launches.

NewTek releases Video Toaster, a video editing and production system.

1989

1990


Gopher is released by the University of Minnesota.

Finnish university student Linus Torvalds releases Linux.

Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is introduced.

The LAT uses the usenet group talk.politics.soviet to report on attempted coop in the U.S.S.R.

Dow Jones, Apple and Thinking Machines Corporation collaborate to introduce the Wide-Area Information Server, an early Internet search program.

Sony launches the Bookman, an early e-reader.

Sony launches the MiniDisc and Philips launches competitor DCC.

The first SMS is sent and received.

The LAT uses the usenet group talk.politics.soviet to report on attempted coop in the U.S.S.R.

Dow Jones, Apple and Thinking Machines Corporation collaborate to introduce the Wide-Area Information Server, an early Internet search program.

Intel introduces its Pentium computer chip.

Adobe Acrobat launches.

The Mosaic web browser, designed by Eric Bina and Marc Andreessen, is released.

MIT Media Lab launches the Freshman Fishwrap, an experimental personalized news service.

1991

1992

1993


Yahoo launches.

Netscape launches.

Sony launches the PlayStation.

JPEG standard is approved.

W3C is created.

The AP and Kodak introduce the NC2000, a digital camera created specifically for journalists.

Sun Microsystems introduces Java.

WebTV is founded.

Amazon.com launches.

eBay launches.

Netscape releases Navigator 2.0.

Explorer is included with Windows 95.

DVD standards are approved.

The New Century Network joint venture is created by Advance Publications, Cox, Gannett, Hearst, Knight-Ridder, Times Mirror, Tribune, NYT Company, and WaPo Company.

There are 60 North American newspapers with sites on the Internet or that have dial-up services.

Salon launches.

1994

1995

The first generation of commercial Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) launch.

ICQ is introduced.

The Nintendo 64 launches.

Flash launches.

The Internet Archive and Wayback Machine are launched.

The Haldeman Diaries is the first book to be simultaneously published with a companion CD-ROM, which contains multimedia content.


The CSS Working Group issues specifications to the W3C.

Dreamweaver launches.

1996

1997

Early experimentation with DVR technology.

XML is recommended by the W3C.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group is announced.

Google launches in beta.

ICANN is founded.

“Backpack” journalists begin reporting and shooting single stories without a full production crew in the field.

The Drudge Report uses the web to break the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, far ahead of other media organizations.

The AvantGo mobile information company begins carrying content from Knight-Ridder’s Real Cities network, the NYT, WSJ and C/NET.


TiVO and ReplayTV launch.

RSS begins use.

Final Cut Pro is launched.

Napster launches.

1998

1999

Craigslist launches in San Francisco.

Consumer-grade GPS is made available.

DDOS and Doxxing attacks are on the rise.

President Clinton uses an electronic card to e-sign a bill into law, making e-signatures legal.

PlayStation2 launches.

Google announces AdWords.

NYU students Dennis Crowley and Alex Rainert found Dodgeball.

AOL and Time Warner merge.

CueCat launches.

Journalists use digital cameras to cover the Sydney Olympics.

For the first time, more families in the U.S. subscribe to Internet services than to newspapers.


Wikipedia launches.

The iPod launches.

Keyhole, a geospatial data visualization applications company, is founded.

3G services are offered in select mobile markets.

Amazon acquires Borders.

2000

2001

Online Publishers Association launches.

Second Life is demoed.

Sirius launches.

Friendster launches.

Google News launches.

Amazon Web Services launches.


MySpace launches.

Apple’s iTunes Store launches.

LinkedIn launches.

Skype launches.

Technorati launches.

Furl launches.

2002

2003

Gawker launches.

Digg launches.

Facebook launches.

Flickr launches.

The smartphone market explodes, with new models from RIM, Samsung, Nokia, Sony, Ericsson, Motorola, HP and Palm.

Podcasting starts.

Google introduces Gmail.


2004

NYT begins using RSS.

First APIs are developed.

YouTube launches.

Google acquires Keyhole and relaunches it as Google Earth.

Google launches Desktop, Video, Talk, Maps and Book Search.

Ning launches.


2005

Huffington Post launches.

Lawrence Journal-World staffers Adrian Holovaty and Simon Willison create the Django web framework.

Holovaty uses Django to build Chicagocrime.org.

More than a dozen newspapers and magazines are podcasting, including the San Francisco Chronicle and the Philadelphia Daily News.

Soundslides, a multimedia storybuilding program, is created by Joe Weiss.

NowPublic, a user-generated content network, launches.

Journalists use Flash for multimedia storytelling.

CBS launches the Public Eye blog.

The NYT buys About.com; WaPo buys Slate; CBS buys MarketWatch; Knight-Ridder, Tribune and Gannett purchase a controlling stake in Topix; News Corp acquires MySpace for $500 million.

The NYT launches its TimesSelect paywall.

Mashable launches.

TechCrunch launches.

MSNBC launches the expansive multimedia project “Rising From Ruin.”

Nintendo launches a new gaming platform with gesture controls: the Wii.

Twitter launches.

The Flip camera launches.

Sony announces a new e-book reader.

Google acquires YouTube and Sketchup.

WikiLeaks founded.


2006

CNN launches iReport.

Reuters opens a virtual news desk within SecondLife.

Yahoo! announces a partnership with newspaper companies.

Buzzfeed launches.

The iPhone launches.

Seesmic, a video discussion site, launches.

The Open Handset Alliance is formed and announces the Android platform.

Amazon’s Kindle launches.

One Laptop Per Child launches.

Google acquires DoubleClick.

Tumblr launches.

LivingSocial launches.

IBM launches the ManyEyes data visualization platform.

CoveritLive launches.

USA Today becomes the first news site to integrate comments on every story.

ProPublica launches.

Politico launches.

The White House admits bloggers into the official press section.

The Knight News Challenge announces its first-year winners.

Yahoo! News partners with the Huffington Post and Slate to host an online-only presidential candidates debate.

CNN and YouTube partner to host a presidential candidates debate.

ABC launches a Facebook app for the 2008 presidential election.


2007

Apple’s iTunes App Store opens.

Google launches the Chrome web browser.

Google launches its Flu Tracker.

Groupon launches.

Amazon acquires Audible.

Amazon Web Services introduces Public Data Sets.

ScribbleLive, the liveblogging platform, launches.

Dropbox launches.


2008

CNN launches its Hologram project for election night.

NPR releases its first API.

Journalists use blogs, Twitter and Facebook to cover the election.

PolitiFact launches.

The Bush Administration starts the White House’s first blog.

Adrian Holovaty’s ChicagoCrime.org becomes EveryBlock, a nationwide database.

CBS launches a YouTube channel.

Tribune, Gannett, Hearst and the NYT announce the quadrantONE online adnetwork.

The NYT and AP launch two of the first iPhone news apps.

The Pulitzer Prizes include online-only publications for the first time.

Foursquare launches.

Gowalla launches.

SCVNGR launches.

Google introduces Social Search.

Google Apps comes out of beta.


2009

Scott Klein and Aron Pilhofer co-found DocumentCloud.

The Guardian’s Datablog launches.

Journalists and citizens cover the U.S. Airlines Hudson landing via Twitter.

Journalists use Twitter Lists to report Fort Hood.

Newspaper and magazine publishers announce their joint Digital Newsstand initiative.

The data.gov site launches.

Chartbeat launches.

Facebook acquires Drop.io file hosting/ sharing company.

Google announces work on self-driving cars.

Google launches experimental fiber network.

Google announces the Nexus One.

The iPad launches.

Instagram launches.

2010

WikiLeaks posts more than 90,000 classified documents related the Afghanistan War.

NYT introduces a new paywall.

Storify launches.

Flipboard launches.

GroupMe group messaging launches.

Facebook acquires Beluga, the group messaging service and Gowalla, the location based service network.

Google Wallet launches.

Google starts offering 2-step verification.

Amazon launches Prime Videos.

Microsoft launches the Kinect system.

Netflix begins offering nationwide streaming.

The D3 library is released.

IBM debuts Watson, its cognitive computing platform.


2011

Journalists use GitHub to share and post code.

.Mic launches.

Vox launches.

Journalist Andy Carvin uses Twitter to crowdsource and report the Arab Spring.

Facebook acquires Face.com, the image recognition platform.

Google launches a Public Alerts system for natural disasters.

Google Now launches.

Google broadcasts a Presidential Hangout.

Google announces Glass.

Google Play launches.

Amazon acquires Kiva.

Amazon Publishing acquires Avalon Books.

Medium launches.

Oculus launches.

Microsoft’s Surface launches.

The Pebble Smartwatch launches a campaign on Kickstarter.


2012

The Circa “atomized news” app launches.

Native/ branded content becomes widespread.

Google launches Chromecast.

Google launches Project Loon.

Google acquires Waze.

Google works on Project Ara, the modular mobile phone system.

Edward Snowden works first with the Guardian and then the WaPo, NYT and other news outlets to publish NSA documents.

The NYT debuts Snow Fall.


Google begins work on a connected contact lens.

Google acquires Nest.

Facebook acquires WhatsApp.

Facebook acquires Oculus VR.

2013

2014

The Guardian launches a SecureDrop system for whistleblowers.

The Disney/ABC and Univision joint venture Fusion begins hiring well-known journalists.

BuzzFeed continues to hire several well-known journalists away from traditional media outlets.

Breaking News app launches.

The This.cm platform launches.

Apple launches The Watch.

Amazon launches Echo.

Facebook acquires Wit.ai the speech. recognition platform.

Facebook Instant launches.

Amazon launches Instant.

TBA.


2015

Sources: MTV, CNN, USA Today, Computer History Museum, Poynter, Adobe, Google, Microsoft, Apple, TiVO, Craigslist, AOL, Time Warner, Amazon, LinkedIn, Nintendo, IBM, Knight Foundation, Facebook. Special thanks to those who participated in our online conversation, including: Bill McBain, Amy Eisman, Thom Lieb, Andrew Lih, Sarah Ruddy, Arik Hesseldahl, David Johnson, Zach Seward, Michelle Ferrier, Michelle Johnson, Hiram Enriquez, Robert Bole, Greg Linch, Simon Rogers, David Wright, J. Nathan Matias, Wendell Cochran and Cory Bergman.

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