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I look forward to it, Dave. Should be a great read.

 

To me, the change and the problem comes down to this:

EVERYONE wants to be the star, the messenger, the media person.

NOBODY wants to be the audience anymore.

Whether it's Twitter, blogs, Facebook, whatever, we're slicing the audience so thin now that no one gets critical mass anymore. Not at a reliable, sellable level.

Back in the day, the rubes knew their place and were content to be the audience. Meanwhile, they could live their lives and do whatever specific things they did best. Now no one listens because we all are intent on talking. Everyone has a voice now so no one gets heard. Culture of narcissists, no longer content to have a relative few serve as our delegates/spokespersons/informers.

Hell, why not? Thanks to the Internet and technology, we're all our own bank tellers, grocery check-out clerks, directory-assistance operators, financial planners, gas station attendants, tax accountants, travel agents, postal employees, interior designers, maitre d's, wedding planners, real-estate agents and, in extreme cases, doctors (WebMD.com) and lawyers (LegalZoom.com).

Why shouldn't we all be our own citizen-journalists? When I was "called" to this profession, part of the deal was, I would be a pair of eyes on the wall so that you and you and you wouldn't have to be. Now everyone wants to be on the wall at once -- it's no wonder traditional watchers are getting crowded off.

But a hundred million people spewing their particular takes on their particular blogs, while linking to the same 10 or 20 established and diminishing voices, is a monumental waste of everyone's time.

Beyond the loss of "economies of scale," we're losing jobs and we're losing the quality needed to do this stuff right. Maybe the ATM is as good as the guy who took my deposit slip every other Friday. But most bloggers won't be as good as Woodward and Bernstein. Yet a Nixon White House will always be a Nixon White House, or shrewder.

 

joe: that was simply a great post. lights-out.

 

Very interesting (and accurate) take on things, J.W.

Everyone's talking and no one is listening -- a trend that's true in many areas.

What I'm banking on (along with other "community" newspapers): None of those hundred million bloggers are commenting on rezoning hearings, water quality reports, health department fines and all those other types of imformation residents of a particular town or area NEED to know.

They're all blogging about American Idol, how Barack Obama's a socialist, if Tom Brady has a hangnail, etc.

If you'll allow me to brag about my current shop (because Lord knows I've dumped on it on here), we just had a story regarding a series of injuries in a recently-built subdivision due to backyard decks collapsing. None of the injuries were life-threatening, but there were some broken bones, bad cuts, head injuries, as decks which were poorly attached to the house collapsed and fell 7-10 feet to the ground below. While some lawsuits have been filed, the builder also needs to be held accountable in the local newspaper.

I don't recall bloggers tracking down these cases or breaking this story ...

Could newspapers and the national media in general do a better job of watchdog journalism than they are today. Hell yes! But at least there's still a chance for it. With bloggers? Not so much.

 

Bingo.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Joe is spot on.

 

Kindred weighs in on the Whicker fiasco.

http://sportsjournalism.org/sports-media-news/a-good-columnists-best-friend/