Editorial: August 2018

 |  July 31, 2018

My fellow members in the media and I are facing an existential crisis. Whereas we used to all fall neatly into two main categories, broadcast and print, our community has now expanded to include social media platforms, bloggers, vloggers and all manner of emerging new voices. Since the advent of the internet there has been such an upheaval within our industry that most of us can’t even fathom the depths and breadths of the monumental changes which have occurred. Let alone be able to imagine, and importantly anticipate, the changes to come.

Not even sure who we are anymore, the slow death of our traditional revenue streams has resulted in the inability to spend as much time as we used to on investigation and due diligence as we attempt to keep up with citizen journalism and click-bait content while also facing accusations of fake news and other attacks on our integrity. All of this while we attempt to do our best to stay abreast of latest technologies and trends, finding ourselves questioning our competence, effectiveness, and importantly, very relevance.

All of which leads me to believe that we are more important than ever. When every voice can be heard and every opinion shared, it becomes essential for those of us who value the integrity of our profession to stay our course in terms of delivering the best information to our readers, whether it be news and reviews, or opinions.

This month Aydan Stuart, our deputy editor, is leaving for greener pastures — the Big Mango. It has been a pleasure watching him blossom from an opinionated and passionate young man to a (still opinionated and passionate) thoughtful young professional. Young Tus Werayutwattana, a recent graduate from Chiang Mai University, will step up to be our very first Thai deputy editor, something which I am terribly proud of. We are now therefore looking for a new content creator here at Citylife to work mainly on our website and social media platforms.

Importantly we are seeking someone who believes in the media, who sees the importance of our profession and takes such responsibilities seriously. We want someone who is interested and curious…dare I say, even nosey!

If you live in Chiang Mai and love this city (with eyes wide open to her many flaws), and have an interest in really getting to know this part of the world and sharing your experiences and knowledge with our thousands of daily readers, then this is the job for you. We want someone who is active, who is social, and who is compassionate and well-read. We are looking for a team member who understands the changing media-scape and who can help drag me out of my old world doldrums and bring our media firmly into the 21st century. We want a go-getter who will spend days talking to someone fascinating whose stories and experiences can be shared far and wide, yet is also able to drum up a quick video clip about their favourite som tum vendor. We are looking for enthusiasm, creativity, internet technology know-how, ability and interest in writing — and of course passion.

What we can offer in return in a rare chance to generate content on multiple media platforms — old and new. This is an opportunity to explore your interests, to meet people, gain new experiences, open your minds and communicate with millions of people each year. You will get to write, edit, take photographs, manage social media, run a website, make videos, create blogs and vlogs and meet some of the most incredible people living or travelling through this part of our world, creating an impressive portfolio in the process. We are proud of our past editors’ successes, many of whom hold positions in some of the world’s most respected publications such as Hilary Cadigan, who is now associate editor at Bon Appetit in New York and Mike Atkins who is senior sub-editor at The Times in London.

We are all going to miss Aydan terribly and we wish him nothing but the greatest happiness and success, but we are also very excited to welcome someone to our team so that we can continue to build on our 27 year relationship with our readers.

We don’t always get it right, but we do our damn best and on this 27th anniversary issue of Citylife, I would like to thank you all for your continued support and hope to introduce you soon to our new Aydan. Get in touch if you think it could be you.