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We are a hungry world and we EAT information. Our hunger is insatiable but as individual tastes develop, demands for accuracy and commitment to the truth will be added to the menu. The standards of web news reporting are experiencing dynamic changes. This blog will explore our hunger for news, judgment analysis of information and the balancing of sources. 

Throughout the 1990’s, many television news stations carried the slogan, “We have it first”.  I remember watching Saturday Night Live when a news cast broke in and reported that Princess Diana was involved in a serious car accident while trying to get away from the paparazzi. A few years later, I remember watching the television as the U.S. armed forces started its bombing of Iraq. On November 8, 2006, while sitting at my computer at work, I was a sent an email feed about U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld resigning. When I clicked on the email link, I was provided video footage of President Bush discussing the matter. On Friday November 10, 2006, YouTube had a movie clip that shows a man being beaten by a Los Angeles police officer. I, as many people around the world, am guilty of wanting to know what is happening in the world first. Whether the form is a newspaper, television news, email or a website, people are interested in current timely news.  

There is a lot of information being collected. Supermarkets, drug stores, books stores, shoes stores, and more have coupon cards that track all of your purchases, when and what type. To obtain these cards one must sign a consent form and most people do not know how their information will be used. In a New York Times article, “Researchers Yearn to Use AOL Logs, but they Hesitate”, by Katie Hafner, I was very pleased to read that there are some researchers who are hesitating over using AOL query logs that were released.  

“Now it’s sitting there, in cold storage,” said Professor Kleinberg, who works on algorithms for understanding the structure of the Web and searching it.“ The number of things it reveals about individual people seems much too much. In general, you don’t want to do research on tainted data.”  

Although curiosity and research analysis has led to dynamic innovative advancements in all fields, at what cost will it affect public’s perception of the end results? Tainted meat is tainted meat. No matter how long you cook this meat, if someone knows that it is bad from the start, many people will not eat this meat. 

In an article published on Online Journalism Review, Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute discusses the type of content on the internet.

“There’s so much crap out now that most of it is worthless. Information has two forms of value. First, information that is new is valuable, but in a limited sort of a way. More valuable is information that has been vetted and organized in a way that gives the user meaning. That kind of information starts out in the first category, then it is verified and categorized by a credible organization, which elevates the information to the second category. Anyone can achieve the first level of value. It takes a bit of skill and intelligence and knowledge and hard work to get to the next level.”

Kelly McBride’s statement is insightful as to the changing appetites for news information. Information has to be accurate and truthful. Many individuals desire not only to read or hear information, but to critically think and analyze the story from various points of view. Simon Waldman, of Guardian Unlimited, sums up this point best:

“Get the story right. Get it out there as quickly as possible. Do it in that order and you will have no problems. Do it the other way round, and after a while you won’t be taken seriously. It doesn’t matter if you’re a blogger with a dozen readers a day, or a major news organization with a million or more.”

The proliferation of information in journalism is great. Information that is vetted for accuracy and ethical approval will provide a perception of respect. People crave information and use various tools to fill this hunger. As experience with different websites and news tools become available, people will start to become selective or “picky” to their preferred sources of information. Sources that provide deeper meaning, accuracy and balance will become a favorite.  

References:

AP Los Angeles (2006, November 10) LA beating found on YouTube. CBS13.com. Retrieved November 12, 2006 from http://cbs13.com/watercooler/local_story_314201140.html.

Glaser, M. (2004). On the wild, woolly internet, old ethics rules do apply. Online journalism review.

August 8. Hafner, K. (2006, August 23). Researchers yearn to use AOL logs, but they hesitate. New York Times.