It's journalism, not the medium, we should be committed to
Yes, revisiting that age old debate again, but here's an interesting development and an excellent quote (both via David Black):
Trinity Mirror’s Buckinghamshire Advertiser has relaunched its web site. It’s very cleanly designed. But there’s something significant that is unusual about it — it’s a blog
And, the editor of The Online Journalism Review gives us this useful perspective on journalism:
Journalism tells people about something that really happened, but that they might not have known already. Journalism can come from a hundred readers on a political blog, sifting through a federal document dump for evidence of White House corruption. It can come from a hyperlocal blogger, telling her readers about the town's spring festival. Or it can come from consumers on a discussion board, sharing their personal experiences in trying to get the best deal on a family vacation.
New processes create new opportunities. A journalism story is only as strong as the sources that inform it. A traditional reporter might include a handful of sources in his story. But a community-driven website can accommodate reports from thousands more, making its reports potentially far stronger.
The old way of doing journalism served us well before the Internet allowed millions of people to become publishers. But insisting that everything we call journalism in the future be made in the same way we did journalism in the past puts our craft in grave risk.
