Ethan Zuckerman wrote an interesting piece for the Nieman Report about Serendipity in the news and how when news moves online, readers lose that thrill of finding the unexpected news item on the bottom of the front page. But I don't think the issue is losing serendipity - there's still plenty of that. News aggregators like Yahoo and Google News are constantly refreshing their pages to include stories from all over the Web - most of which the user may never have seen. The real issue is the content, and whether these sites are using their powers for good or evil. Sure, these sites get tons of hits a day, and sure, any user is bound to find something to discuss over the water cooler, but aggregators are not editors. Aggregators disseminate news based on hits, not quality or newsworthiness. This is an important factor to remember as we are creating our own online news publications. We have to remember to constantly be thinking like news editors and not just the owners of an online media business.
But the great thing about our projects is that we will be able to present the news how we like. While I think we need to keep in mind news value, I look forward to presenting news to people our age in conversational tone. What I'm thinking is our news site will be have voice, the vistors will feel like they know the editors. They'll know our opinions and they'll know that some of us favor one kind of story and some of us favor others. Links to the official news sources will always be provided as a way to back up facts - but the content on the site will provide perspective and insight. I agree with Robert Niles that we need passion to replace the dullness that has taken over news and I think the kind of site my group is proposing can do exactly that. It's true that people our age are sick of the "he said, she said, you-figure-it-out" kind of journalism (I loved that line), but I think there is a place for each kind of journalism. Luke Morris might have hit the nail on the head for this one. I think the print newspapers have a good thing going - and though they are in some financial trouble right now, I think that print and Web will eventually find their balance and advertisers will realize that print ads are still the way to go. But anyway, in my idea world of journalism, newspapers stick to their guns but add a livilier element to the news online. I see a newspaper's Web site as a place for conversation between news disseminators and news gatherers.
It really ties right into what David Mindich said in 'Journalism and Citizenship,' (.... I'm starting to think it's not a coincidence that all these articles overlap...) which is that it strengthens the value of the news to have engaged, thoughful citizens participating in the discussion. News should go two ways. On the one hand - people don't want to just be lectured at (even in print) they want things explained. On the other hand - you can't expect people to just sprout out their own news topics or be spontaneously informed about what's going on in the world. That's why news disseminaters still have and always will have the responsibility of providing the foundation for dicussion and thought for the public.
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