February 6, 2012 Reporters Covering News Reported by Other People
While reading The New York Times article Blogging Site Tumblr Makes Itself the News, I thought, editorial is finally finding a place again. For a couple of years, it looked like journalists were going the way of the paper publications they worked for. Why pay professionals when you have people willing to write (using that word loosely) for free?
Huffington Post wasn’t the first or only, but they were certainly the most prominent to put “citizen journalism” on the map. I guess “citizen” is nicer than “amateur.” But given the opportunity to build a personal brand, credibility, an audience, and links back to their own sites for SEO value, many citizens were wiling to contribute content for free.
Maybe that shift came first, or maybe it was the loss in ad revenue that drove the change; either way, I’ve watched round after round of editorial lay-offs and lamented the loss of quality in content. Titillating headings and crappy copy flooded sites, and the job of sifting through it became, well, a job. Literally.
With the continuous push of content (possibly doubling every 72 hours), someone needs to filter through it and find what’s worth reading. Many publications have incorporated curated headlines and stories from other sites; and platforms like Facebook and WordPress – and now Tumblr – highlight interesting content from their communities. And who’s bringing that crème of the content to the top? The professional writers and editors.
And they’ll continue to do real reporting, as well – there will be fewer doing so, as the need to have so many people covering the same stories has greatly dissipated. Instead of many resources dedicated to the same beats and stories, we’re spreading the coverage more broadly, looking to the thousands of “citizen” journalists as sources. Even HuffPo hired professional journalists.
Some say the lack of focus is killing investigative journalism. But I think where’s there quality, there’s always some way of –and someone – bringing it to the surface.
Tags: content, editorial, journalism
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Content Marketing
