As a result of the online environment, the audience is more, not less, active—and that is the promise of journalism in the decade to come. Vibrant commenters, immediate coverage of breaking news by uncredentialed citizens, and the wilting force of the paper product are all just symptoms of a media environment that is increasingly, irrevocably, dependent on public participation. If one source lets you choose the stories that they cover, and the other doesn’t, why would you pick the latter? I know I wouldn’t.
To be sure, I don’t think that Rick Sanchez or Wolf Blitzer are changing the world when they point viewers to their Twitter feeds and Facebook pages. But the fact that I find myself gazing with awe at CNN’s coverage says something about the lassitude with which its competitors are responding to the new media environment. It will be a long time before CBS News catches up, and I’m not waiting around. Instead, I’m returning to the tools of the Web with the hope that one day I can use them to improve network news coverage from the outside in.
great article sus.... rick sanchez can be a total douche, and ali velshi is the devil, but cnn has been evolving in a way that's palpable and while i used to scoff at their melodrama, lately i've noticed a more toned down, user friendly, participatory kind of network, that has embraced the "new age" of communication, rather than fight it.
hurrah for you for seeing beyond the ticker frenzy. there really is something going on... even if its fleeting.
#1 Posted by zoboxrox, CJR on Thu 12 Feb 2009 at 11:27 AM
Great article--as a fellow aspiring journalist and a desk assistant at another tv news organization, I share similar thoughts. Even with the innovations that the internet and new media provide, we must continue to maintain quality and freshness to coverage.
#2 Posted by Ella, CJR on Thu 12 Feb 2009 at 12:13 PM
Read this article with great caution!!! One month and a half of work (subtract the sick days and the no-show days) of simply appearing at CBS, does not a job make. I challenge the validity of this article. It appears to me that Susannah still harbors some resentment for being called out on her laziness and nonexistent "work ethic". The irony. Priceless.
#3 Posted by anonymous, CJR on Fri 13 Feb 2009 at 02:41 PM
In response to the above anonymous comment: This essay was meant to emphasize the importance, as I see it, of audience-engagement by major media outlets. I continue to suspect that the more interaction that occurs between general interest sources of news and the public, the better it will be for democracy. I wrote this with regard to all outlets, and had no intention of leveling a personal attack on CBS News or any of its employees.
#4 Posted by Susannah Vila, CJR on Sun 8 Nov 2009 at 11:21 PM