News War

It was Brian Ross, in Chapter 17 of News War, that said "The thing that separates each network is original reporting". Chapter 17 of Frontline continues with examples of each network expressing its own voice with its wave of reporting that is all their own. With "To Catch a Predator", and "60 minutes" to "20/20" every news station distributes its own account of the news to a specific audience who enjoys that type of news. Going even beyond expectation, news programs began to turn profit starting with "60 Minutes" and has started a new trend of the news making money rather than working toward the public's best interest. From turning profits to extreme budget cuts the news took spins and dives to the current format that we see today.
I find this argument compelling, with so many news savvy journalist on almost every channel that one can surf on television it is essential that each has its own voice as to attract viewers away from other news programs that are just as talented or focused as you are. Original reporting must be the heart of a good news casting team because it is very likely that the same news-worthy stories are going to be on every single news program, so it is required that there be something else that catches the prospective viewers eye other than your ability to cover a story effectively.
The same could be said in the blogging world, the voice of the reporter is strongly needed to catch some of the ever-moving, ever-surfing publics.

Larry Kramer said that, "the biggest cause for tumult is that the economic situation [for journalism] is changing because the audience is changing." and Walter Issacson came behind him to say that the focus of the news is no longer to get a wide variety of an audience to to get a narrow, passionate audience. "And what better way to get that," he says, "than to be opinion based." Chapter 18 goes on about how news broadcasting has changed and is continually changing to access the deep revenue of a prospective audience. From making the transition from hardcore neutral reporting to becoming steadily opinionated the news world has accomplished snagging an audience that fits into its belief system. This type of audience will continue to come back for more, not only for their daily dose of news, but opinion. The transition from television to web has also become priority for a lot of news programs. It was quoted that to not get on this trend, to pass the Internet off as a generational trend, is a folly decision.
In my personal opinion, becoming opinion based is a very profitable way to achieve the original voice that was needed in Chapter 17. Opinions make the news more down-to-earth, a way to actually place the viewer in the news, to either agree with the newscaster or to disagree. It use to be that the viewer was to make their own decision about how they feel about what was going on in the world, but now the news can give them a side of the argument that they may not even consider.
What more is blogging than opinion? It is a way to voice your opinion about a particular subject (the topic of your story) and to draw in the attention of those who believe like you do or dissenters. Blogging just may be the transition needed for news programs from TV to Internet, because now since they're basically doing the same thing (blending in their original voice with current events), but blogging gives their viewers the option of commenting so that THEIR original voices are heard as well.

I think that blogging will not only be the place for amateur journalists, but also the professionals. In order to keep up with the current trend that is blogs the major news stations may have to jump on board with it. It is already evident that most of the major news stations have began posting their stories on their websites so that those surfing publics can pause and view the current events before they're on their way. All that is required is the ability to comment (which a lot of them are beginning to do) to make it exactly like a blog.