An interesting topic was discussed at the BlogWorld Expo in a session called the “Death and Rebirth of Journalism,” which murdok attended. Brian Solis moderated with speakers including Hugh Hewitt of the Hugh Hewitt Radio Show, Jay Rosen, an NYU Professor of Journalism and Author of Press Think, Don Lemon of CNN, and Joanna Drake Earl of CurrentTV.
As you probably know, the debate about blogs and journalism is a controversial one, and has really been going on for years. The emergence of social networks has really only fueled the debate. Considering reports that most Twitter users are looking for news, the debate will not likely be cooling down anytime soon.
Solis began by suggesting that new media is outperforming traditional media. Lemon jumped right in and disagreed, saying that people go to CNN to find a trusted source, and that people get their info from them and other sources and then go and re-tweet and blog about it.
Rosen spoke about growth in the industry and said that the pieces are starting to get filled in. The live web has enhanced it, but also made it more competitive, he says, noting that in the beginning new media was similar to old media, but not anymore.
Hewitt suggests that there are plenty of growth opportunities, but for new networks, it’s hard to get noticed and will be even harder in another ten years. There are numerous questions, such as: where are the jobs going to come from and how will journalists get paid?
Lemon says traditional media and new media need to work together. They shouldn’t fight. Earl agrees.
Rosen says that before news breaks, the facts and verification have to be there, but it’s not true that only professional journalists do this. Hewitt agrees, adding that new media evolution involves the human aspect.
Solis asks the speakers if the “statusphere” (status updates) is the salvation for traditional news. Lemon says that traditional news organizations took a while, but are now being transparent, and that “big media” gives new media understanding.
Rosen says that new media is shared more horizontally as opposed to the former vertical way from big media, and that part of that horizontal shift is humanizing it. “Give bloggers and regular people credit.” It needs to be a “mutual” relationship. Lemon says that bloggers can’t be as responsible as the original journalists who researched topics.
When asked if the school of journalism has a place in the future, Hewitt says in his experience, they’re teaching irrelevant tactics. Rosen says they used to segregate between newspapers, magazines, and broadcast, but not anymore. Now, he says, they combine and incorporate the web and yield a new media system.
murdok reporter Abby Johnson contributed to this report from BlogWorld.
