I wanted to get out of my growly phase this week, really, I did, but this just adds the cherry: The Atlantic and the National Journal poll an infinitesimal sample of mostly old-media farts (Kos and Josh Marshall aside) and the majority concludes that the internet hurts journalism. Restrain me. Quotes:
“The Internet trains readers to consume news in ever-smaller bites. This is a disaster for newspapers and magazines,” says one small bite. Did it ever occur that maybe people never read your overlong stories; you just didn’t know it?
“The Internet has some plusses,” says another, giving a caveat that you know will be followed by a few buts, “It has widened the circle of those participating in the national debate. But it has mortally wounded the financial structure of the news business so that the cost of doing challenging, independent reporting has become all but prohibitive all over the world. It has blurred the line between opinion and fact and created a dynamic in which extreme thought flourishes while balanced judgment is imperiled.” No, it has presented new journalistic and media opportunities to gather and share news in new ways and fine new efficiencies and reach new audiences. It has also brought new openness and demands of transparency regarding the opinions of those who long called themselves just bearers of fact. Judgment is ours, say the people, and that’s where the balance lies.
“News consumption depends on news production, and I don’t see anything on the Internet that produces news—that is, detailed responsible empirical journalism—the way newspapers do (or did). It is typical of Americans to get more excited about consumption than about production.” Boy does that encapsulate the snottiness of old media.
Thank goodness for the minority:
“Sure there’s sludge, and I can feel overwhelmed by quantity–but the range and quality of what’s at my fingertips every morning is astonishing.”
“You abandon the conceit that ‘newspapers’ equals ‘news,’ you realize that people have far more information available to them about current events than ever before, and that’s a great thing for both journalism (the gathering of news) and the public.”
[via Gawker in Twitter, that nasty bite-sized new medium]
