Today I’m going to take a detour from my usual web review commentary and deal with a slightly more philosophical subject: Web News. Unlike newspapers and even TV, the Internet has proven itself to be an incredible way to spread news quickly and effectively. With an ability to constantly update news briefs and stories and with subscription lists that blast the news out to a broader audience–Internet news sites have revolutionized the art of news making. The question arises though: what kind of news are we being given? Sure its a story and its on a website, but with each news agency from Fox to MSNBC there is a special interest on the part of the particular conglomerate that controls the news outlet to transfer news in the way they want to, despite a given story’s multiple angles. Internet thrives on quick digestion and the Web news conglomerates are more than happy to be a party to this. Take a look at Fox News, which has short headlines and flashy pictures. There is very little substance to any of these news sites and each story has a short lifespan, encouraging an unconscious march towards dronedom on behalf of the reader. Information from web media outlets goes into web users, but that information is very rarely processed by web users who are many times more likely to be of passive persuasion on many issues troubling the world than TV or traditional newspaper customers. So what can be done and what are the alternatives?
BLOGS!
Thats right, blogging is one of the most powerful ways news and opinions can reach the masses without being bent by traditional news outlets. Of course blogging is usually an opinion and cannot always be verified, but blogging is dynamic and powerful and truly represents a grassroots mechanism for ensuring the commoners partaking in the Internet have a voice. So next time you have a craving for the news–go to a blog. They never go away so you can read them as much as you want, allowing time to discern truth from falsehood, fact from fiction.
September 3, 2007 at 11:12 am
Blog is the new broadsheet – possibly why many dictatorships are trying to keep them on a tight leash.
September 3, 2007 at 11:21 am
There is another problem you fail to mention. The fact that each news agency feels they need to send news ALL the time. Therefore they are taking stories that MAYBE would have made the local paper and turning them into national stories. In other words, we know are being fed “news” stories that are so stupid and not important it is becoming ridiculous! Take for example CNN, they don’t even bother to write their own story but instead just link to a story from an affiliate new agency.
The sad fact is these news agencies are giving what people want. It is simple: supply and demand. It is not the news agencies that are desperate for mundane news but rather the people.