I wonder if we are on the brink of losing some of the quality of our news – of the in-depth reporting that traditional media has delivered. I find myself watching some news stories on twitter vs. reading an article in Time Magazine. I believe that media is changing – and changing toward a new business model. However, I’m concerned if there will still the in-depth quality we need to get good quality information – to make use think beyond the headline.I believe that new media does a great job on breaking news – on getting the word out quickly to the most people. I also see that there is a greater quantity of information available – as it’s no longer in the control of a limited # of people. I think there is a trend toward confronting incorrect information in news stories – as there are now a lot of fact checkers with a voice. The cost of entry to “publish” information is very low now – as opposed the large capital required for traditional media. All you need is a Twitter account (free) to get the word out – and get it out quickly.
I’m concerned with what might be the Twitter effect – the very small pieces of information (our attention span) vs. quality of information. I think this trended started back with CNN – in the breaking news concept. You didn’t have to wait for the paper – you could get a continuous stream of news stories. I don’t blame CNN for this – as frankly our attention span as a people has gotten shorter and shorter – and I’m part of that trend. I like the quick information – the easy availability of information. Then we went to e-mail alerts, RSS, text message alerts and now to Twitter. Twitter (and Facebook) have a limit on the amount of information you can share in one moment. I find myself reading little bits of information on Twitter – not getting to in-depth information.
I miss the in-depth sometimes – which is why I probably like to listen to NBC Nightly news – as the depth of the information is greater. That said, I also read Time magazine and find it easier to read the small segments than the longer, more in-depth ones. So I’m part of the trend – of the potential loss of more in-depth information. (And often don’t watch – I listen on my palm phone most of the time).
Do we think that individuals (new media) can provide the same quality of information as a news organization? Will we as a people have the attention span to dig deeper? Can new media provide a platform to help us go from the shallow to the deeper information – such as links to more information? Will there be genuine new content – as opposed to re-hashing the same information over and over?
