Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Internet Journalism
There isn't much surprise in this study of internet journalism. It points out that news is shrinking and not expanding because most sites repackage the same stories or focus on the same news topics. That is, most sites rely on AP, Reuters, Bloomberg and other news services rather than doing their own enterprise reporting. That is the way it has been since the beginning. It is easy, cheap and fast. But, the future of journalism does not appear to be the easy route with skeletal newsrooms. Readers remain hungry to know what is happening in the world. It is hard to believe they will be satisfied with a scan of Google news in the morning.
PR practitioners had better hope that news publishers rediscover the need for enterprise reporting. Like it or not, traditional news organizations are still a channel for the persuasion work we do. Some may think this idea is old-fashioned and that PR has moved beyond publicity, but publicity has not disappeared. We still need the news media and they, whether they like it or not, need us. It is harder now when week after week one watches major media get slimmer and read of newsroom buyouts. There are more stories than ever but fewer reporters to write them.
PR practitioners had better hope that news publishers rediscover the need for enterprise reporting. Like it or not, traditional news organizations are still a channel for the persuasion work we do. Some may think this idea is old-fashioned and that PR has moved beyond publicity, but publicity has not disappeared. We still need the news media and they, whether they like it or not, need us. It is harder now when week after week one watches major media get slimmer and read of newsroom buyouts. There are more stories than ever but fewer reporters to write them.
Comments:
Hi Jim,
I share your concerns.
Here in Melbourne, Australia, IndyMedia has just closed (http://melbourne.indymedia.org/). So any hope that citizen journalism (if it really exists at all, but that's a debate for another day) would pick up the slack seems to be evaporating.
I share your concerns.
Here in Melbourne, Australia, IndyMedia has just closed (http://melbourne.indymedia.org/). So any hope that citizen journalism (if it really exists at all, but that's a debate for another day) would pick up the slack seems to be evaporating.
# posted by 
: 5:12 PM
: 5:12 PM
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