Comments on: Being there http://blogs.reuters.com/reuters-editors/2006/10/30/being-there/ Our editors & readers talk Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:00:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Brian Dear http://blogs.reuters.com/reuters-editors/2006/10/30/being-there/#comment-61742 Brian Dear Wed, 01 Nov 2006 07:08:51 +0000 http://blogs.reuters.com/reuters-editors/2006/10/30/being-there/#comment-61742 Newspapers started as highly opinioned, party-oriented machines used to provide a forum for debate. The idea of objective news seems to be slowly slipping away and as the previous commenter suggests, opinion is moving back into the journalism mainstream. The key is that organizations such as Reuters continue to provide objective news to facilitate reasoned opinions. Everyone has an opinion, the critical ingredient is its persuasiveness, based on fact. The era of so-called citizen journalism is upon us, but demand for accuracy and bias-free reporting will steadily increase due to the influx of more opinion based reportage. Newspapers started as highly opinioned, party-oriented machines used to provide a forum for debate. The idea of objective news seems to be slowly slipping away and as the previous commenter suggests, opinion is moving back into the journalism mainstream. The key is that organizations such as Reuters continue to provide objective news to facilitate reasoned opinions. Everyone has an opinion, the critical ingredient is its persuasiveness, based on fact. The era of so-called citizen journalism is upon us, but demand for accuracy and bias-free reporting will steadily increase due to the influx of more opinion based reportage.

]]> By: John C Abell http://blogs.reuters.com/reuters-editors/2006/10/30/being-there/#comment-61142 John C Abell Mon, 30 Oct 2006 16:12:09 +0000 http://blogs.reuters.com/reuters-editors/2006/10/30/being-there/#comment-61142 Opinion. Next question. Seriously: In the era before blogs a former colleague was fond of telling me at every conceivable opportunity that I was not the demographic "they" were interested in. Now that it is possible for anyone with or without an opinion to publish one, does that make my opinion even less valuable or more? I have to admit that my news reading habits have changed to the point where I usually just absorb the front page of the New York Times but begin actual reading from the op-ed page backwards. Is that only because the newspaper, pretty much by definition, has yesterday's news, which I got my fill of yesterday, online or onTV? Partly, but while the trend to push analysis to the top of the news totem isn't itself new, the pace is accelerating not only because of the commoditization of news but because context, even in well written stories, tends to remain so linear, especially when done in the demanding real time reality of the Internet. The things that David Brooks and Frank Rich and Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert have to say a day or so later does add food for thought to the feast, and it does so as only they can. So I suspect opinion - or analysis if you prefer -- is the growth segment within the news business. I also suspect MSM is delighted to have a free, global farm system with plenty of would-be opinion-makers clamoring to be discovered. But you better be prepared to put on the overalls and heavy boots, because you have a lot of weeding to do. Opinion. Next question.

Seriously: In the era before blogs a former colleague was fond of telling me at every conceivable opportunity that I was not the demographic “they” were interested in. Now that it is possible for anyone with or without an opinion to publish one, does that make my opinion even less valuable or more?

I have to admit that my news reading habits have changed to the point where I usually just absorb the front page of the New York Times but begin actual reading from the op-ed page backwards. Is that only because the newspaper, pretty much by definition, has yesterday’s news, which I got my fill of yesterday, online or onTV?

Partly, but while the trend to push analysis to the top of the news totem isn’t itself new, the pace is accelerating not only because of the commoditization of news but because context, even in well written stories, tends to remain so linear, especially when done in the demanding real time reality of the Internet. The things that David Brooks and Frank Rich and Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert have to say a day or so later does add food for thought to the feast, and it does so as only they can.

So I suspect opinion - or analysis if you prefer — is the growth segment within the news business. I also suspect MSM is delighted to have a free, global farm system with plenty of would-be opinion-makers clamoring to be discovered.

But you better be prepared to put on the overalls and heavy boots, because you have a lot of weeding to do.

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