September 28, 2010

A framework for thinking about New Media journalism

Jonathan Stray reminds us of an excellent point:

New Media journalism should be thought of as a product that people use, not as collection of stories or other pieces.

In particular, he argues:

I am in vehement agreement with much of what Stray has to say, although I think he understates the importance of general knowledge and the often serendipitous benefits of pursuing same. For example:

And I indeed try to practice what Stray preaches. Most of my own posts — especially when you weight them by length and/or time spent researching and writing them — are designed to help at least some people make on-the-job decisions.


Comments

2 Responses to “A framework for thinking about New Media journalism”

  1. Jonathan Stray on September 28th, 2010 6:05 am

    Thanks for the comments — a good summary and a thoughtful response.

    On the point of underestimating the entertainment and general interest value of news, I’ll first quote my lede: “There are lots of reasons people might want to follow the news, but to me, journalism’s core mission is to facilitate agency.”

    Certainly the entertainment and social effects of news are something we want — if a story gets people talking at the water cooler, I’m happy. And I do believe in general education. But I want to ask what it is that makes journalism different from entertainment and general knowledge. To me, that rests on more specific uses of particular pieces of information.

    Thanks for taking the time to respond.

    – Jonathan

  2. Curt Monash on September 28th, 2010 7:18 am

    Jonathan,

    And thanks for your comment!

    I think “general interest” can LEAD to agency — not just in the sense of well-informed voters, but rather in broadening the scope of what people can imagine and do. Indeed, I’m probably an extremist in the degree to which I believe in that.

    Best,

    CAM

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