Over the past few years, one of the things that has bothered me about the evolution in journalism and “news” programs, is that it’s no longer about reporting on the news, but making – or shaping – the news. I think the objectivity in many instances has been lost, and in an attempt to evolve and try to innovate, the objectivity has been replaced with sensationalism and spin.
A recent blog posting by Seth Godin entitled “Breaking News” talks to this, and inspired me to write this blog post.
In his blog, Seth comments on the fact that there seems to be a lot more breaking news lately. He goes on to clarify that it’s not more news, just more breaking. I thought he hit the nail on the head. While he’s talking more about the social media space and how people are turning everything into something “urgent” that readers need to pay attention to, I think you can draw a parallel with my “shaping vs. reporting the news” theory. This is also where the sensationalism comes into play – something that I, for one, am getting tired of. I’d love to get back to basics, but I fear there may be no turning back…it’s a new reality, and one I’d rather not live with. I wonder what Seth would think about this angle of thinking?
Tags: blog, breaking news, communications, journalism, Marketing, news, sensationalism, social media
[...] someone who has previouslycriticized the media in my blog Making vs. Reporting the News I’m now going to eat my words (a bit), but for a good [...]