Just read a really interesting article by Brad King about how journalism is being utterly transformed because of the internet, and felt the need to turn my comments on the article into a short posting.
My first real foray into PR has been an exciting one – on the one hand, I shall be featured in women’s magazines and the national press as the producer of the Starting Over Show, shamelessly bearing my own personal story to the world. On the other hand, I am enjoying writing press releases for the event to highlight issues that it brings to light, and really feeling that there is a gulf between creating and writing copy for even respectable broadsheets, and the more thoughtful, less homogonised writing for blogs.
One experience that Brad King relates rang true, and is very significant since many other recipients of ‘news’ will have the same experience – and that experience will affect the future of journalism.“Until the 1980s, media outlets were the sole provider of information. If you wanted to find out what was happening, you turned on the TV, listened to the radio or read the newspaper.
Last night, I found out George Carlin had passed away through a Twitter post, logged on to MySpace to see what my friends had said and then watched his old routines on YouTube while I was reading Wikipedia about his life.I still haven’t visited a newspaper site because I have no desire to read some reported story.I don’t need to.”
My comments to the article went as follows: “Excellent article. I am currently involved in the media in different capacities. I rely on Twitter for news and hardly ever read the newspapers, but ironically I am currently being interviewed for features in womens’ magazines with story twists and ‘angles’ that make good copy, but may end up trivialising the real story underneath.I create my own surveys to get data for my own press articles, writing about the real issues behind ‘my story’, relying on social networking hubs and the web for stats and real opinions. But I fear these will be given a ‘truer’ reflection in the blog versions I post than in the final press release draft, as the traditional press audience appears to prefer a dumbed down version of the news – or the news editors think they do.
In other words, ‘real news’ now comes from and is created by the activists online, whereas the paper news speaks to a generation brought up on comic book papers discussing issues devoid of complexity. The real mass media is what people are talking about on Twitter and Facebook, but for me it has increasingly more substance and relevance than even the broadsheets can muster. Online articles like this, for example.”
June 24th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Thanks for the kind response, and I’m glad that it caused a response.
It’s strange. I’ve been a journalist since 1994, but for the past 10 years I’ve been working online either as a reporter, editor or producer. The more I’ve immersed myself in this world (I’ve been on the Internet since 1984), the more alienated I feel from my brethren in the industry.
And yet…
Other industries — gaming, marketing, pr, even authors — have embraced me far more. A Stranger in a Strange Land.
Regardless, the world of data (what newspapers like to call stories) is the future. Context is fine. But context ain’t king. Data is.
Love to get your thoughts on our social network — The Modern Journalist NING site. I’m working on a book about this phenomenon and I value all conversations.