Here’S Why People Won’T Pay For News: No Ane Does Journalism Anymore

I opened my Yahoo domicile page today as well as read the tidings headline “Outgunned Kurds Beg USA for Weapons to Battle ISIS” as well as its atomic number 82 paragraph.  “Interesting,” I thought, as well as thus I clicked on the item, expecting an expanded flush from a tidings agency. What I got was the Huffington Post. 

 

“OK, they are becoming a decent tidings source,” I reacted. So I began reading, simply to realize they gave me 2 paragraphs earlier redirecting me to Newsmax for the entire story. 

 

Newsmax is a tidings site established amongst the assistance of politically conservative political figures as well as journalists. That doesn’t forbid them from reporting tidings accurately, but tin influence their tidings choice, analysis as well as opinion. Nevertheless, I read the 14-paragraph flush written yesteryear Drew MacKenzie. It was a audio story. However, it only paraphrased a flush yesteryear Washington Post reporter Terrance McCoy, “The strongest armed services left inwards Republic of Iraq has non stopped the Islamic State.” So I decided to read the original Post story.

 

When I got at that topographic point I discovered that McCoy relied solely on secondary sources: quotes from other journalists, a contention yesteryear President Obama as well as a quote the president attributed to an Iraqi parliamentarian, or as well as thus previous Washington Post stories, online photographs, a New York Times interview, as well as an examine yesteryear a unusual policy specialist.

 

4 tidings organizations. iv stories. No master sources. And no fact checking, I suspect.

 

Setting aside the problems this illustrates virtually journalism practices today, this illustration of tidings linking underscores why tidings organizations are having problem getting people to pay for news.  As this instance shows, they are doing nix new, adding nix or little, as well as essentially copying each other as well as themselves. This gives readers nix they cannot teach elsewhere, as well as thus how tin they hold back people to come across it equally valuable. 

 

This value creation deficit is specially a challenge if tidings organizations desire readers to pay for journalism, but it is increasingly a problem even in asking them to pass fourth dimension reading gratis content.

 

This form of inexpensive tidings of dubious value will cause the drib dead of many tidings providers inwards the coming years. If tidings organizations don't modify their behavior, it volition endure drib dead at their ain hands.