Just finished reading Blog by Hugh Hewitt. New book about the changes in journalism I've started is We The Media by Dan Gillmor. There are increasing numbers of articles, columns, opinion pages, and letters about Blogs that are appearing in the mainstream media and various internet outlets. Freedom of the press is being explored and who is now considered a journalist in this fast-paced, ready to publish world of ours. Are more voices better? Does one have to pass a test to be considered a journalist or writer? I certainly hope not, especially since a large number of people who are columnists for small and large market papers are not bona fide graduates of journalist programs like the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern. Many happened upon the position after writing a guest column or a book or possibly even letters to the editor. Can we be regulated? Sure, everything can be governed to the nth degree, but that takes away the impetus for wanting to write. Freedom of expression is what this country was built on and one of the reasons we are the most successful country in modern times. We can question the government. We can offer criticism, praise, state problems and suggest solutions.
Don Wycliffe, public editor for the Chicago Tribune offers his perspective on shield laws and the need not to overregulate the title of journalist. Amy Ridenour covers the same subject in depth, and has a number of links to articles about this topic, as well. In this everchanging age of media proliferation and consumption of news there will be those who change the landscape of media as we currently know it. There will be (and already are) pioneers in the field of news gathering and dissemination that will keep us honest, up-to-date, and at times test our limits and our patience. In the process, however, we will gain new knowledge, new perspective, and possibly a new understanding that is not jaded by the conglomerate news sources that feed us their daily output of what is considered news. Niche marketing of news will follow the trend of magazines and journals that are delivering specialized articles about everything from photography to the Atkins diet. Those that write and find their niche will continue to have an audience and those that write without direction will find a waning and temporary readership, if any at all. Most importantly, it will become a dialogue between writer and audience, unlike mainstream media, that picks and chooses what to print, whose letters to share, and what perspective to hold on to, even as readership dwindles.
The bloggers will not be immune to this. We can choose to accept comments or not. We can choose our own perspective and what to write or not write. The difference, though, is that in a nano second, the reader can click us off and have thousands of other choices. There are news sources, news groups, other web logs, and e-zines just to name a few. The choice becomes limitless, but human nature dictates that people tend to gravitate toward what they like. The good news with the new media is that there will be a choice for most every taste and unlike the days when mother told us, "This is what's for supper. You'll eat it or you'll go to bed hungry," we no longer have to digest what the mainstream media in print, television or radio, feeds us. We have a complete smorgasbord from which to choose.
No comments:
Post a Comment