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peter lindsay

Physics Teacher,

TEDCRED 30+

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Is journalism dying?

As the internet and multi-channel pay and free to air TV become the norm we hear talk about the shortening of the news cycle. Weekly publications are now almost pointless as a whole story can come and go between issues. I believe I see a disturbing increase in news stories that turn out to be poorly researched as news programs on TV and papers desperately struggle to not be left behind. The cycle goes so fast that a story that turns out to be erroneous but rates well is preferable to a well researched story that appears a day too late. But what do we do?

Topics: journalists news media the information revolution
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    Heather White 10+

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    Jun 8 2012: In the UK, print news is all but dead - the stinking body is still twitching but the Leveson Enquiry will read it its last rites.

    Murdock murdered it.
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    Robert Winner 50+

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    Jun 8 2012: Computer sources and local news channels allow about 30 seconds up to one minute per story. What you get is an overview. Most of them are selling time and space to pay for the broadcast. With journalism papers and periodicals you have the advantage of not only knowing what happened but also the who, where, when, and why. I perfere the long version. I feel better informed.

    Journalism as we know it today is certainly becoming dated, however, I feel that it will evolve into a better form of electronic media that is interactive with the public.

    Tabloids out sell all other printed media. It does not say much for this great land of ours but there is a market.

    The real question in this conversation is what will be the impact. As a nation we already read less and have become dependent on TV, i phone, i pad, cell phones, etc ... to provide us with a contact with the world. If papers, et al go how far behind are books, and other printed matter.

    The chain reaction is the real story here. All the best. Bob

  • Philip Crume

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    Jun 7 2012: Mass media journalism is dying. Hi-quality journalism that lives behind paywalls is a growing field used by those whose livelihood depends on knowing what's going on in the world.
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    Fritzie Reisner 100+

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    Jun 7 2012: It has become increasingly important to know which sources to trust.
    Separately, there is a free rider problem that prevents high quality sources from recouping the costs of their work. That is, with blogging, tweeting, and so forth, only a couple of people need to read the high quality article, because once they repackage the information in their blogs and tweets and so forth, the readers of these secondary sources may no longer feel the need to read the original story at a price. It is the modern reality of information collection and dispersion.
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    edward long 100+

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    Jun 7 2012: Journalism is looking jaundiced for sure. In this case the yellow is the result of compromised ethics. Not long ago we scoffed and joked about supermarket tabloids. Now they sell like pancakes and have their own rack at every checkstand in every market. Ratings and sales were once tied to veracity and dogged pre-printing verification. The news-consuming public today is asking for a different product. Yellow journalism sells today. Traditional journalism is going the way of the newspaper, maybe not dying, but catering to a much smaller customer/revenue base. Follow the money.

    • Philip Crume

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      Jun 7 2012: I still scoff and joke at supermarket tabloids. They're the beginning of the end of civilization.
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