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Blogs, Newspapers, and the End of Reporting
As you can tell from my username here on TPM, I am a former journalist. A newspaper reporter, to be precise, who is one of many left with skills that don't have much value when newspapers are eliminating editorial positions, hemoraging capital, and being reduced to advertising circulars with a few feature articles thrown in.
And as an enthusiastic supporter of the blogosphere, I have been excited to see this new media take a prominent place in the political landscape.
But something has been nagging me while sites such as this one bring in awards and accolades that were once only available to the old-school club of newspapers and sometimes TV.
And that is, when the newspapers disappear, who is going to do the reporting? Especially on the local level.
I don't want to go on too long because I read an excellent column on the subject and I highly recommend you check it out.
http://tinyurl.com/5ec542
It speaks to the heart of the problem with the move to the Internet, and it offers little in the way of optimism.
Here's a sample.
"The majority of bloggers and Internet addicts, like the endless rows of
talking heads on television, do not report. They are largely parasites
who cling to traditional news outlets. They can produce stinging and
insightful commentary, which has happily seen the monopoly on opinion
pieces by large papers shattered, but they rarely pick up the phone,
much less go out and find a story."
Sobering stuff and I would love to hear people's thoughts on this important topic.
Comments (1)
Once it becomes someone's job, as opposed perhaps to an avocation, that (the investment of time and development of contacts) will happen. It's an evolutionary process we're seeing, not the setting of a switch.
July 24, 2008 9:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
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