Tuesday, November 07, 2006
MEDIA & MARKETING
...From THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, April 14, 2005
"In a contest between man and machine, traditional news Web sites are facing competition from online challengers that employ computers as editors -- Google Inc. being the prime example.
But challenging them all is the news site of Yahoo Inc., a hybrid that pairs human oversight with automation and serves up news from multiple sources. In six of the past 14 months, Yahoo's news site has drawn more unique visitors than any rival, displacing longtime news leader CNN.com, according to research firm Nielsen/NetRatings."
In an era when efficient is more important than tradition, links will likely continue to change the way that news is organized. Perhaps the distribution of news stories will be done through one organization or company--like Yahoo--and the collection of news will only be done by another source, instead of the two--reporting and presentation--being joined under one roof. But what news sources can we trust? Is there any difference between subjectively choosing news sources which we--the reader--feel are reliable based on our past experience, and having Yahoo's editiors do this for us? How much should we trust companies like Yahoo?
"By contrast with Yahoo News, which has no reporters, Time Warner Inc.'s CNN.com relies on hundreds of CNN correspondents and producers for articles, complemented by reports from the AP and Reuters. A CNN spokeswoman says its site ranks "consistently at the top" of online-news rankings and benefits from the growth in online news."
The New York Times can charge it's readers more than the competition for their news because of the quality that they provide. But free news is available online. Can we forfeit the best news for that which is free and easy to access? How will the journalists be paid? Does this mean that the journalist is only as credible as the blogger?
"The editors monitor stories arriving from news organizations, choose headlines for Yahoo's home page, and pull together links to stories on big topics."
I'm so glad I decided not to pursue a career in newspaper journalism!
"In a contest between man and machine, traditional news Web sites are facing competition from online challengers that employ computers as editors -- Google Inc. being the prime example.
But challenging them all is the news site of Yahoo Inc., a hybrid that pairs human oversight with automation and serves up news from multiple sources. In six of the past 14 months, Yahoo's news site has drawn more unique visitors than any rival, displacing longtime news leader CNN.com, according to research firm Nielsen/NetRatings."
In an era when efficient is more important than tradition, links will likely continue to change the way that news is organized. Perhaps the distribution of news stories will be done through one organization or company--like Yahoo--and the collection of news will only be done by another source, instead of the two--reporting and presentation--being joined under one roof. But what news sources can we trust? Is there any difference between subjectively choosing news sources which we--the reader--feel are reliable based on our past experience, and having Yahoo's editiors do this for us? How much should we trust companies like Yahoo?
"By contrast with Yahoo News, which has no reporters, Time Warner Inc.'s CNN.com relies on hundreds of CNN correspondents and producers for articles, complemented by reports from the AP and Reuters. A CNN spokeswoman says its site ranks "consistently at the top" of online-news rankings and benefits from the growth in online news."
The New York Times can charge it's readers more than the competition for their news because of the quality that they provide. But free news is available online. Can we forfeit the best news for that which is free and easy to access? How will the journalists be paid? Does this mean that the journalist is only as credible as the blogger?
"The editors monitor stories arriving from news organizations, choose headlines for Yahoo's home page, and pull together links to stories on big topics."
I'm so glad I decided not to pursue a career in newspaper journalism!