The Ongoing Debate Between Traditional Media V. New Media
I caught CNET's Rafe Needleman at the Podtech Bloghaus at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas a couple of weeks ago for the video podcast Marketing Voices. We got into a good discussion about his views on the "traditional media" versus new media.
Rafe was once at the magazine Red Herring and he has an interesting perspective on why audiences are responding to their own passion points and reading the blogs that matter to them rather than general interest newspapers.
We discussed the frustration I often see of my journalist friends who have academic training in journalism, but see bloggers not respecting journalism's ethics yet getting more traction with their blogs. There are really no answers just observations.
Needless to say, journalism schools around the country are developing their curriculums differently to deal with these social media influences.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.mpdailyfix.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/12246
Comments
Jennifer,
I certainly feel bad for journalists, because consumer-created content is a double-edged sword.
On the one hand you have bloggers with no journalistic accountability or training and usually minimal, formal education on the topics they're blogging about.
On the other hand, bloggers don't have to please an editor or walk a tightrope with regards to controversial subjects.
It's important for readers to be able to distinguish fact from opinion (front page news vs. editorial column) and to remember integrity isn't a guarantee anywhere (online or in print).
More now than ever, we need to utilize all our resources to verify sources and stories instead of turning our media into a giant rumor mill.
Of course, there will always be a rumor element to the news, but that's a discussion for a different day.
Michael...Amen...you have stated the issues clearly...I wonder if eventually there will be blogging standards set that journalism schools will start to have classes in blogging...maybe some already do?
I like the conclusion: the good blogs will become traditional media and the bad blogs will fall off.
It actually can't be avoided. Good blogs will need marketing, finance management and all the other business functions. One person can't do it all. Once you have this, you have a new media company?
Comments
Jennifer,
I certainly feel bad for journalists, because consumer-created content is a double-edged sword.
On the one hand you have bloggers with no journalistic accountability or training and usually minimal, formal education on the topics they're blogging about.
On the other hand, bloggers don't have to please an editor or walk a tightrope with regards to controversial subjects.
It's important for readers to be able to distinguish fact from opinion (front page news vs. editorial column) and to remember integrity isn't a guarantee anywhere (online or in print).
More now than ever, we need to utilize all our resources to verify sources and stories instead of turning our media into a giant rumor mill.
Of course, there will always be a rumor element to the news, but that's a discussion for a different day.
Posted by: Michael Lombardi | 01.24.08
Michael...Amen...you have stated the issues clearly...I wonder if eventually there will be blogging standards set that journalism schools will start to have classes in blogging...maybe some already do?
Posted by: jennifer jones | 01.24.08
Michael and Jennifer: Right -- it's as Rafe said (paraphrasing): "It's great and it's awful." Anything that CAN be a story IS a story... somewhere.
Wonderful interview, Jennifer! One of your best.
Posted by: Ann Handley | 01.24.08
I like the conclusion: the good blogs will become traditional media and the bad blogs will fall off.
It actually can't be avoided. Good blogs will need marketing, finance management and all the other business functions. One person can't do it all. Once you have this, you have a new media company?
Posted by: Dusan Vrban | 01.24.08
I also strongly agree with the conclusion. Great interview!
Posted by: Yuce Zerey | 01.27.08