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The Internet Effect on News
TIME
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Here is a basic shift that has occurred in the
news business: Because of the Internet, you, the reader, no longer
have to buy information in pre-fabricated packages like “newspapers.”
You can just go online and individually select the articles you
want to read. And there are lots of websites and blogs to help
you out. Every day, Matt Drudge, the Huffington Post, Yahoo, Google,
Swampland, or a hundred other different bloggers, will pre-select
articles for you and provide links. You choose your own adventure.
There is a corollary effect here: As the value of the package
declines, the value of the individual article increases. Online,
news organizations charge advertisers based on the number of hits
they can get on a site. And since the hits are often coming for
specific stories, and not the entire site, a blockbuster story
that gets linked to, say, Drudge, is money in the bank.
This means that the competition on the level of the individual
story is more intense than ever before, and there is enormous
pressure to distinguish yourself from the pack. Assume, for instance,
that 12 news organizations do the same story on the same day about
how Hillary Clinton has a tough road ahead of her to get the nomination.
Which story is going to get the most links and therefore the most
readers? Is it the one that cautiously weighs the pros and cons,
and presents a nuanced view of her chances? Or is it the one that
says she is toast, and anyone who thinks different is living on
another planet?
(Article continues below)
I ask these rhetorical questions because I just finished reading
Marc Ambinder’s detailed rebuttal to the Politico story
from Friday (which I previously blogged about). That article,
by Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, effectively declared Clinton toast,
and suggested that anyone who thinks different is living on another
planet. Most of Ambinder’s critique is based in the merits
of the actual situation, and he notes repeatedly his belief that
the Politico authors did little more than repackage the conventional
wisdom. But he also glances across something really important
about the dynamics of the news business:
Indeed, the authors’ own publication, the Politico, is
as responsible as any single publication for printing the type
of horse race coverage that, in the eyes of the authors, are
overstating the relative odds of the horses. The Politico has
two excellent bloggers who provide moment-by-moment coverage
of the race. Thanks to the newspaper’s magical pathway
to Matt Drudge’s inbox and attention span, the Politico’s
horse race coverage often disproportionately influences how
editors and producers assess the day in political news.
Full
article here.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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