Easy Access With The Computer

In chapter 17 it starts off by talking about ABC vs. NBC and the topic to discuss was Dateline, a show that ABC apparently passed on. ABC also had the chance to host the show To Catch a Predator but found it to be very controversial. When NBC decided to run the show they say it as a way to “catch the bad guys.” Ted Koppel, who is part of ABC News, brings up a very good point when he says “we are now judging journalism by same standards as entertainment in-other-words give the public what it wants not what it need to hear.”
Dan Rather worked for CBS from 1962 till 2006. He found that CBS had a drive to do well and help the public service. He goes on saying and explaining how back when he worked there CBS had a “mission” and he was happy to be part of that “mission.” News was more concise and to the point.
The chapter then goes on talking about how news programs could not make money, how the FCC contract said a news program must inform people of important events in the world around them and that is how 60 Minutes got its start. It looks like once all the news shows; 60 Minutes, Dateline, 20/20 were finally making money it became more of a power-driven money craze then it did on focusing on the news. The most power driven man was Larry Tisch, he bought CBS and thought he could cut budgets and make Wall Street even happier. Tisch did not realize in doing this he lost ratings and CBS has been in 3rd place for the past couple years now.
I do agree with what this article talks about. In my mind most people today want to be entertained not educated. I believe society finds it more interesting to watch To Catch a Predator then it is to hear what is happening in Afghanistan. When it comes to blogging I feel the news is the last thing people blog about. They like to talk about celebrities and events. They do not want to talk about things that, where if they miss a day of the news they then may not get the full story.
I believe the future of blogging will not be with the news. I think that with how society is the news will fall down in the line of things to talk about. Just like Jeff Fager stated “they’re tough times its hard to cover the new and the world I use to run the evening news I know the budget I had was more significant then the evening news has today.” I agree that the future of the news is all the money that the stations have to put towards the journalism investigators.

In chapter 20 it talks about how CBS tried to be more active with the internet. CBS and ABC had put up a blogs about themselves. ABC’s Simon Surowicz seems to be using the blog to get even more information about the stories they already have. ABC’s Chief of Investigative Report, Brian Ross, says that the information that was found on the blog could be the first news break for the internet.
MSNBC was the first station to go onto the internet with the news, but the dot com crash happened. Luckily they survived and are now the number two most visited news site behind Yahoo. Yahoo lets the news up to the people and their video cameras. Also they rely on others like the Associated Press. Google, Yahoo’s competitor, rely on reporters from other newspapers because all Google does it link your search to the articles.
What it comes down to is Bloggers and Citizens Journalism cannot do it themselves they need the reporters and newspapers for the real stories. I agree with that argument completely. There is a reason we have investigative reporters they can go places normal people, like me, cannot go. They have the technology and money to travel the country even the world to get the full story.
This chapter finds blogging to be good and helpful. Yes, some of the stories that ABC and CBS got on their blog were pointless but that is a chance they are willing to take. Some stories are true like the one that Brian Ross read and the man who was the political figure resigned. I believe that there is a future in blogging news now then there ever was before. The computer is something that most people like to be on and it is easy access. People are starting to decline their subscriptions to newspapers because the information they want is at the click of a mouse.