2 Comments

  1. Hey Laurel – so what’s different. Official news sources – and the Government itself – were coming out with different versions of Private Kovco’s death for up to 48 hours.

    I think you can find the same on televised news – its easy to show the picture of the burning building, but what caused the blaze.

    The professional media would argue that they provide two features – they offer selection (you can’t report everything) and verification (you can trust that we’ve checked this). I think online citizen news can get to verification almost as quickly.

  2. I was speaking to some journalists from the Press Gallery in Canberra. A lot of their sources are *secret*. People with an axe to grind who spill the beans on condition of anonymity. Experts in a particular area who believe their findings were not reportedly accurately in Gov papers and so on. However, after reporting the information to their fave press guy, they can often feel further maligned if the information is ignored (not of interest to the public) or given a spin and so on.

    Enter the blog. Those sources are going to dry up for the journo – the relationship will become even more fragile. Will any and every blogger have the exposure they want? No of course not, but a few will break through, become must-reads, and have 15 lines of fame. Will they take on the role the Press Gallery guys presently have? What can be done? Ah, well a few things. The Journo has the edge here and can maximise it. I’m not saying it will be easy – just don’t leave it too late!

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