News Wars

In 2007 the PBS show Frontline produced a multi-part series "News War" which investigated many facets of news as it adapts to changing media outlets and demands. This blog is a reflection and response to "Part 3" (segments 16-25) which focuses on the changing relationship between the internet, news-consumers, news owners and traditional news media.

(I know this is more than the three paragraphs required; sorry, I just had more to write)

Traditional news has reached a point where survival is becoming increasingly dependent on it ability to branch out across media. Traditionally, news was what you needed to know combined with what you wanted to know. It was organized, fairly weighted information for the consumer to digest and act upon. Reporters were not the "face" of news, they were the medium through which it was provided to the public.

In this era of citizen journalism, instant feed information, celebrity journalism and multi-media sourcing, "news" is blurring and shifting with "entertainment" because the line between need and want is blurring and shifting.

Traditional journalism is dying because the demand and respect for it is fading, its resources are declining and, as the "Murrow" generation is slipping away, fewer journalists are entering that role. Newspapers are especially affected in two fronts: Money and demand.

Traditional consumption is declining bucause budget-cuts are reducing the quality of newspapers, people are turning to multi-media sources that are easier to control and personalize, and the "Murrow" generation is shrinking.

Advertisers are shifting their money to the web because it reaches more people and is cheaper. As newspapers become publicly owned, stocks holders are driving higher profit demands and budget cuts than in the past.

Traditional news will always have a place, it will be controlled more by consumers. Consumers want the news choices they want, when they want it, and nothing else. Most news sources have already begun the shift to on-demand availability, and those who do not will struggle to keep-up and eventually sink or swim.

I'm not exactly sure when this "news war" began, or when it will end. Advertising and for-profit-ownership have played the largest hand for the longest time, and they became really influential when the standard of journalism "as a public service" faded.

Then the consumer demand for news shifted more when the internet stepped in and offered consumers the control over when, what, how and through whom content is provided.

The news used to be controlled by the news sources. Now it is controlled by advertisers, profiteers, celebrities and most importantly, YOU. With the internet, you can create news and post it from anywhere about anything. You don't need a degree in journalism, or a production or publication crew or an editor. You can post whatever you want, and no one can stop you.

Consumers are controlling supply and demand. If the demand is not met, consumers have the power to change the supply, by creating their own. This is evident in the increasing influence bloggers have over mainstream media. Bloggers and citizen journalists have a place in journalism. They are becoming the checks and balances of mainstream media, like it is of government and business. Could this be because mainstream media is no longer run as a public service but as a business for profit itself?

Bloggers are useful, but they are not a reliable, consistant and unbiased medium. Consumers may want what they want, but someone has to make a point to inject some of what they need too.

Traditional news sources will have to find a way to adapt to this new era, but they will also need to maintain their truth-telling integrity. Perhaps citizen journalism, with its freedom from the control of advertisers and public ownership, networked through trained citizen editors, is the answer. Is it possible?