All of Us, the Arbiters of News

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: All of Us, the Arbiters of News
By DAVID CARR
Published: August 10, 2008

Early on in any journalist’s career, the young reporter is besieged by advice from all sides. Flacks, sources and run-of-the-mill busybodies will pound on the phone about why the reporter isn’t covering this or that story. And then, a sage editor will appear and counsel the newbie: “We decide what the news is.” That truism still attains; it’s just the meaning of the pronoun has changed. Yes, we decide what is news as long as “we” now includes every sentient human with access to a mouse, a remote or a cellphone.

On Friday, NBC spent the day trying to plug online leaks of the splashy opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in order to protect its taped prime-time broadcast 12 hours later. There was a profound change in roles here: a network trying to delay broadcasting a live event, more or less TiVo-ing its own content.

Consumers have no issue with time-shifting content — in some younger demographics, at least half the programming is consumed on a time-shifted basis — they just want to be the ones doing the programming. Trying to stop foreign broadcasts and leaked clips from being posted on YouTube — NBC’s game of “whack-a-mole” as my colleague Brian Stelter described it — was doomed to failure because information not only wants to be free, its consumers are cunning, connected and will find a workaround on any defense that can be conceived....

***

For the last few years, the locus of control has been shifting and consumers not only expect to customize their media experience, they demand it as a condition of engagement. The horizon line for when a newspaper on the street is serving as a kind of brochure of a rich online product does not seem far off.

At times, the consumer algorithm doesn’t just drive choice of time or platforms, it drives the news process itself. When The National Enquirer wrote that the former presidential candidate John Edwards had had an affair and had recently met with the woman and a child she recently bore, the mainstream media mostly passed on the story. But the public would not let go. Armed with different standards and megaphones of their own, nontraditional sources pushed on the story all over the Web until it broke, with Mr. Edwards finally sitting down with ABC News to say it was true. And when Elizabeth Edwards chose to speak up about the story, she did so first on the Daily Kos, a liberal Web site.

So the mainstream media may bob and weave but surely they know that things have changed and the remote or mouse turns consumers into editors and producers, as well....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/business/media/11carr.html?oref=login

[AndyTiedye]

1. I Do Not Believe It Was "The Public" Who Would Not Let the Edwards Story Go

[kgnu_fan]

2. community based media is another model to think about...

Since I can not post at DU yet due to my lack of previous posts, I am responding to you here with alternative media approach... check out our radio station KGNU... all local citizens - volunteers - run this station, produce excellent programs and shows.... Why don't YOU people start/join the community based madia movement?

When you are in Denver or not,

Tune in to KGNU Denver-Boulder on your radio at 1390 AM and/or 88.5 FM or on-line at www.kgnu.org !!!

We are an independent, non-commercial, listener supported, volunteer powered radio station in the Front Range. We are all out in covering the historic Democratic National Convention 2008!

KGNU’s Comprehensive Coverage of the Democratic National Convention and the 2008 Election


On-line: Audio, Video and Text http://dnc.kgnu.org

On-Air: 1390 AM Denver, 88.5 FM Boulder

Monday, August 25 – Friday, August 29

6:00 am BBC News Hour

7:00 am Democracy Now! --- Award-winning journalists Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez and the DN team will be broadcasting from Denver all week

8:00 am KGNU Morning Magazine - Comprehensive local DNC coverage

Noon Democracy Now! --- An extra hour of Amy Goodman from the convention

3:00 pm Metro --- KGNU’s local call-in program (303-442-4242)

4:30 pm BBC News Hour on 88.5 FM, Democracy Now re-broadcast on 1390 AM

5:30 pm Free Speech Radio News

6:00 11:00 pm Unconventional Convention Coverage : A comprehensive overview of the day’s events, including live coverage from the convention floor, demonstrations and other events, news, interviews, reporter’s roundtable and more

Phone: [phone]
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Note: I will be doing a music show called “Sleepless Nights” from Monday midnight to Tuesday 3 AM. It would be great if DU’ers to listen to my show and even call me in the studio (Studio line 303-442-4242)