I am delighted to see that the long dormant Carnival of Journalism has been brought back to life.
This month’s topic is “Regardless of how we present our stories to our audiences — online, on-air, or in print — do we truly take them into consideration?”
Journalism is, first and foremost, a business.
This might not make for the best journalism, but considering the alternative, which is bankruptcy and silence, it is the best possible option.
Without income there is no journalism. Income must come first, journalism must come second. No readers, no viewers, no revenue – no newspaper, not TV news, no journalism at all. So, as with most things in life, journalism is a compromise.
The primary task of any journalistic institution is to stay alive, and hopefully, to grow and expand. you only do this by offering content that the viewer or the reader wants to see. You cannot force content down people’s throats, no matter how important you feel it is to them. You cannot hold a gun to their heads and make them read something they don’t want to read or watch something they don’t want to watch. They just won’t do it.
In an earlier time, when we lived in what was, in retrospect, a veritable content desert (i.e., a few newspapers that come out once a day and three television networks that presented the news at 6:30 PM nightly), it was possible to have a far more arrogant approach to journalism. That is, take it or leave it, this is all you are going to get.
Those days are over. Today there are 2,000 cable channels and about a million websites competing for people’s eyeballs. And if they can’t relate to what you have put on the screen, they are going somewhere else, and they are never coming back. And then you are out of work. Period.
And what is it that people are looking for? Sorry to say, but most people are looking to be ‘entertained’ in one way or another. That is the idiot society that we have constructed for ourselves. And it seems to work – just look at The Daily Mail (a very profitable British tabloid) and Fox News (a very profitable US cable news channel).
They are enormously entertaining.
So the answer here is not to denigrate them and say, well quality journalism can now only exist as a not for profit enterprise.
No.
Instead, the answer is to learn from them and make important information entertaining.
Admittedly, this takes a bit more work than simply jamming fact filled reports down people’s throats, but it can be done.
And, in fact, it has to be done, if you want to survive.
The alternative, sadly, is death or a very very small audience of people who only agree with you.
6 Comments
harden shoes August 15, 2017
Can I just say what a reduction to find somebody who actually knows what theyre speaking about on the internet. You positively know find out how to deliver an issue to gentle and make it important. Extra people must learn this and perceive this facet of the story. I cant imagine youre no more standard because you definitely have the gift.
adidas ultra boost August 13, 2017
Thank you a lot for giving everyone an extraordinarily marvellous opportunity to read in detail from this site. It is usually so lovely and full of a lot of fun for me and my office peers to visit your website at least 3 times weekly to find out the fresh things you have got. And indeed, I am certainly amazed for the mind-boggling tips served by you. Selected 4 facts on this page are in fact the most efficient we have all had.
air force ones August 10, 2017
An fascinating dialogue is value comment. I think that it’s best to write extra on this matter, it might not be a taboo topic but usually individuals are not enough to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers
yeezy boost 350 v2 August 09, 2017
I have to point out my respect for your kind-heartedness in support of those individuals that should have help on this important topic. Your real commitment to getting the message all around has been remarkably useful and has consistently made guys much like me to realize their endeavors. Your amazing warm and friendly useful information can mean so much to me and a whole lot more to my office colleagues. Best wishes; from each one of us.
links of london August 06, 2017
I discovered your blog website on google and verify a couple of of your early posts. Continue to maintain up the excellent operate. I simply extra up your RSS feed to my MSN Information Reader. In search of forward to studying extra from you afterward!?
objek wisata di sekitar bromo August 05, 2017
Saya tidak bisa menahan diri dari berkomentar.
Sempurna ditulis!