The first amendment. Freedom of the press. This is set into our core American structure. However, much debate has been over freedom of the press not only in news media outlets (such as newspapers), but more recently, in the new media outlets (such as the Internet). In the readings for this week, McQuail speaks much about the relationship between the public interest and the media. As McQuail states in McQuail’s Reader in Mass Communication Theory, “Activities by the press that drive out competition, encourage censorship, or prevent free discussion and debate on matters of public concern are at odds with the notion of positive freedom of the press. They are, therefore, not in the public interest” (167). This new idea of “blogging” and citizen journalism has become a recent trend. Boczkowski (2002) states in McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory that, “A good deal of online journalism is now being provided by established news organizations, although often with little adaptation from print versions” (qtd.in McQuail 289). However, our society has taken one step further than this—we now have independent news websites and blogs, specifically aimed at solely online news blogging.
My article:
CBSNews.Com Chief to Lead a News and Blogs Site
The article I read about came from The New York Times by Bill Carter, and discusses how one CBSNews.com general manager left her job to become the new chief executive at The Huffington Post, an almost three year-old online news website whose ultimate goal is to “do for Internet news what CNN did for TV news” (Carter). Betsy Morgan, the woman who will now be working for The Huffington Post, says that she sees her new job not has a journalism position but as a business position (Carter). Personally, what I think people don’t realize is that these independent news websites, such as the The Huffington Post, are not just a mish-mosh of people writing these full on news stories. The website has over 40 employees (with an increasing number of reporters), many smart editors, and many regular commentators such as Bill Maher and political figures such as John Kerry and even Hillary Clinton (Carter). I think it’s really cool how you get all of this different insight when you read the different views and commentaries from other people. You can read what other people think, get some different points-of-view, and form your own conclusions in the end. Check it out for yourself and see what you think: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.
Despite the fact that CBSNews.com receives two more million visitors a month than The Huffington Post (5.5 million in comparison to 3.5 million), Ms. Morgan states that she sees news websites as “a bigger opportunity in a different brand from a mainstream brand, a brand that is following a different future path than a mainstream news site is going to pursue” (Carter). McQuail, however, states that with this new wide variety of independent news sources comes “much that is unprofessional and idiosyncratic (Sundae and Ness, 2001)… journalism becoming less journalist centered and more user centered, as well as losing its clear boundary as a professional activity (Boczkowski, 2002)” (both qtd.in McQuail 289).
So after reading the chapter and the article that I provided, what are your thoughts on these independent news websites? Do you think that they are “unprofessional and idiosyncratic,” or do you believe that the news story, is essentially, still factual and valid? Lastly, just a personal question, which website would you choose first: CBSNews.com or HuffingtonPost.com, and why? (Basically, are you going to choose the established news organization’s website or the independent news website?)
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After looking at the chapter and both of the links you provided, I disagree with McQuail when he says that these independent news websites are “unprofessional and idiosyncratic”. On the contrary, it’s not like Huffingtonpost.com was started by individuals who don’t have a background in the media and news industries. These are people who recognize the importance of using knowledge as a spark for discussions and debate. Traditional news media don’t really have a readily-available place for open discussions. Yes, newspapers have the editorial section, but this requires people to take the time to write in their responses to articles, and there isn’t enough room on those pages for everyone to be heard. New media and online journalism doesn’t limit the number of comments an article receives – readers can feel free to respond to whatever story they want, and their posts can be however long or short they want. Newspapers and other traditional media have to use their gatekeeping techniques on what their respondents say (to an extent).
I also agree with E.L. Cohen (as quoted in the McQuail book) about the “interesting feature of the critique of online journalism is the argument that it is on the whole even more ‘market driven’ and commercial than established newspaper journalism” (2002)(McQuail pg. 290), although it claims to be more autonomous. I believe “autonomous” in this case refers to the influence of big corporations and whatever arm-twisting happens there. Online journalism caters to what people want to hear, and what’s so wrong with “market-driven” news? Traditionalists see the people who will seek out the information they the want as a negative thing because they assume most people only care about what happens in the celebrity world or other superficial realms. If given the proper forum, real, thought-provoking discussions can occur – the immediate quality of the Internet allows for that.
With that said, I would probably choose the established news organization for news first, but that is only because I don’t know enough about independent online news organizations in general. I am not opposed to them by any means, and would welcome the chance to take part in them. Information gathered from the traditional news outlets can be used to support whatever is being argued on the independent sites. I’m just naturally wary of anything new, but the future looks bright for websites such as huffingtonpost.com.
Melissa
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