Snacking on the News

I was actually excited to be viewing “chapters” in video form, I feel it is much more interactive and attention grasping. From the start I could already tell I was going to agree with the arguments presented here. Chapter 17: Then and Now started out discussing big time news networks like ABC, NBC, and CBS. What distinguishes one network from another is original reporting and having the primetime area full of a wide range of stories. When ABC turned down a show about capturing sex predators, NBC picked it up claiming that it was a public service and investigative journalism. According to Ted Koppel, an employee of ABC, “we are now judging journalism with the same standards we give to entertainment.” That is, give the public what it wants, not necessarily what it ought to hear or see, or what it needs. He feels that this is a tragedy for news and journalism. The chapter also discusses CBS, and Dan Rather was attracted to them initially because of their “spirit of mission” and it provided quality news of integrity in the public service. At one point, it was government mandated to operate in the public service but this has slowly been changing. At first, news divisions were not expected to make a lot of money, but when 60 Minutes began to turn a profit, corporate entities began to realize that news could make money. 60 Minutes helped evolve shows such as 20/20, Dateline, and Primetime Live. In the 80’s Reagan began to make budget cuts and CBS fell into 3rd place in the rankings and has stayed there ever since.

I learned a lot about news in this chapter. I will admit that I hardly ever watch the news, either it does not interest me or it depresses me. However, that is our world; I believe the public has the right to know the truth and be told what they need to hear, whether they like it or not. However, we are increasingly moving into an age where people get their news from the Internet and can choose what they want to views and news networks are gradually becoming less popular. This is what the next chapter I viewed, chapter 18, is about. People may turn to the Internet for news, but only when they want it, or care enough to look. When it comes to blogs, news is definitely not number one on the list of what people write about unless they have a strong opinion about it. Bloggers often tend to focus more on their personal lives or a personal interest of theirs and somehow I do not see news as becoming one of those interests.

Chapter 18: Info Snacking starts out by telling us that most Americans still get most of their news from television, but the amount of hard news is shrinking. When cable television was first introduced it was a good 24/7 news alternative, but competition has pushed it away from original reporting. Around the year 2000 there were too many news outlets and news networks did not have the broad audiences they used to. Opinion-based journalism is need but so is fact-based journalism. According to an employee of CNN, “simply passing on rumors is not journalism, simply telling people what they want to hear is not journalism.” The sense of public service that once existed with television is now almost completely gone. The executive producer of 60 Minutes, Jeff Fager, knows his audience is aging and is now looking to the Internet for the future. He also says that broadcasting has to end up on the Internet because that is where more and more audiences are headed. Lighter footage, as well as footage that was not put on the air, is now put online and chopped up to appeal to younger people and what is referred to as “info snacking.” The audiences are much more in command of what they want to see and they can just go and get it.

Like I said before, I hardly ever watch the news. If I want to learn about a story, I will go online where the story is available instantly at my fingertips. This is opposed to having to wait until a certain time when a story is advertised to be broadcasted. The Internet is the future and more and more people and items will navigate there. It is nice to have different outlets and options to get your news from but I still feel like blogging is lagging behind in this aspect. On the blogs that I follow, I do occasionally see news items being addressed but this is more of the opinion-based news that was brought up in this chapter. Sometimes this is what people prefer but news is still not very prominent in blogs. It may become more so in the future, when news may be almost completely Internet based, but at this point I still feel like news will be operated by news divisions and networks online. Blogs are fairly popular right now and I think they will continue to grow and become more prominent. However, I feel their material will remain that of opinion and softer issues.