Christnotanother

Journalism, churnalism

noreply@blogger.com (Bloomblog) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:47:00 +0000

My colleague Nina pointed me to this piece from the press gazette today:
http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/editor/2008/01/31/journalism-or-churnalism-what-happens-in-your-newsroom/

Essentially, Nick Davies is bemoaning what he calls the rise of 'churnalism'. Citing new research carried out by Cardiff University’s journalism department, he claims that 80 per cent of home news stories in the main quality UK national newspapers are at least partially made up of recycled material from the PR industry or news agencies.

Looking at newspapers on a case-by-case basis, the study - which looked at 2,000 stories over two weeks last year - found that 69 per cent of home news stories in The Times were wholly or mainly made up of PR and/or wire copy. The proportions for other newspapers were: The Daily Telegraph: 68 per cent; The Daily Mail, 66 per cent; The Independent: 65 per cent and The Guardian: 52 per cent.

The research also claims that fewer Fleet Street staff journalists are now producing three times as many pages as they did 20 years ago.Davies also looks at the diary of a regional newspaper reporter - who over a week said they produced 48 stories, worked 45.5 hours and spent just three hours out of the office.

The description of life on a regional daily in his report does sound very familiar - the pressure to compete for the eyes and ears of an increasingly segemented audience is something that PRs can sympathise with as well. I hate to labour a point, but his comments reminded me of last week's 'Google is white bread for the mind' lecture. There is a definite paralell between his sentiments and those of Professor Brabazon.

Extracting copy from a PR via a wire without interrogating its veracity or exploring its genealogy 'because there is no time for it' is the same as students simply going to Google's first results for their knowledge. There is no intellectual rigour applied...all that happens is that the same half baked ideas are repeated.

As someone who takes a daily papers meeting with the Midnight team, I can be confident in saying that the same old tactics and non stories come up again and again.

The question is...what does this mean? Where is original journalism to be found? I think we know. It begins with 'Blog' and ends with 'osphere'.

Google - information fascism

noreply@blogger.com (Bloomblog) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:27:00 +0000

I went to a fascinating lecture at the University of Brighton last night. It was given by Tara Brabazon, the new Professor of Media Studies at that august seat of learning, and was entitled 'Google is White Bread for the Mind'.

In addition to being highly engaging, enlightening and entertaining (oh, to have had lecturers like Prof Brabazon when I was a student!) it was also very provocative.

Prof Brabazon's position is that Google, Wikipedia and their ilk are 'flatlining culture' and engendering a stifling laziness in students who are all too willing to accept the results of a Google search without engaging in any critical analysis of those results. That confuses popularity with importance, and presents us with 'facts' minus a context. How can you tell if the first result on a Google search is independent and objective, and not just a superficial stab at the subject by the misinformed?

Google chooses what we need to know by encouraging us to go to the same piece of information that everyone else is viewing. Obviously, we can look elsewhere and sift through the pages, but on deadline and under pressure, who can honestly say that do that as regularly as they should? In the last few years especially, we've got in the habit of taking the easy route. Spoilt by the universe of information at our fingertips via Google and Wikipedia, we've forgotten our ability to interpret that information.

The return to media literacy that Prof Brabazon is calling for is as relevant to the business world as it is academia. I love to see examples of savviness and critical thought in a professional context but worry that people coming in to the PR industry are simply pushed in to the easy solution because of the need to satisfy clients/media who want more, sooner.

But do you know what the ironic thing is? Where did I go when I got home and looked for information on the Professor and her subject? You bet: Google.

noreply@blogger.com (Bloomblog) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:20:00 +0000

wow, that was a doddle.
now, everyone can read my twaddle