*more old shit, probably from around 2010? presented unedited*
old vs new media, i'm feeling around for a point
I've written at length about 'dumbing down' elsewhere (LINK) but a newer trend is the shift by major serious news sites from 'hard' news to a opinion pieces and polemic. Often link bait.
This is where they come into direct competition with us bloggers.
A glance at the 'most read' section of any news website will typically have at least one opinion piece in the top 10. Sites such as The Guardian and Huffington Post have practically built their websites around this now.
What point am I trying to make? The professional journalist is a dying breed. The majority of news journalism now consists of recycling press releases or stalking celebrities, sport, with the rest of the site given over to columnists. Columnists who are increasingly providing the most read articles. What is a blogger if not an unheralded columnist? The danger is that as this tread inevitably continues there will be less hard investigative journalism of the type that exposed the super injunctions, MP expenses and the grand scale of internet surveillance. Just more articles about Kim Kardashian, apps about wanking and the like.
People seems to be coming to the comment pieces for the opportunity to comment, however inane their comments may be. I've got to the stage where I avoid the comments.
People will read what they want, so I'm not suggesting that they abandon the link bait (as it's probably paying for the proper journalism). Expect the BBC. They should abandon link bait as they don't have any ad revenue to attract.
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