There's been a great discussion going via the Online-News mailing list. One of the messages that came over the wire tonight was particularly good, I thought, so I asked the author (Matt Mireles) if I could reprint here. He was nice enough to say yes. So, here is his email titled, Vanilla News and the Maginot Line of Objectivity

This problem, I think it needs to be acknowledged, lies near the heart of what is wrong with the newspaper model.

For decades, newspapers have functioned as oligopolies or monopolies in their market. This lack of competition afforded them the economic breathing room to develop a culture that emphasized "objectivity" over analysis. Until more recently, newspapering was more of a working man's job than a profession. Ivy Leaguers didn't used to become newspaper reporters. But it was in this bygone era that the rules and the culture and the form was perfected. Astute analysis requires a depth of knowledge and a certain degree of topical education. If reporters are only minimally educated generalists who simply report on events as they happen, analysis has no place in the craft.

But over time, reporters have gotten steadily more educated and if not personally wealthy, chosen more and more from the affluent ranks (with college costing so much these days, who else can afford to live off a reporter's wages?),yet the newsroom culture and values have been slow to change. And until recently, have not had to because of the aforementioned oligopolistic/monopolistic business conditions. But the web has increased competitive pressures exponentially. If there was only one flavor, being bland wasn't such a big deal. For a parallel, think about the history of ice cream. Once upon a time, there was only vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. Now the flavor calculus has changed--chocolate chip cookie dough, Chunky monkey, oh my. Imagine being an ice cream maker today and only selling vanilla!

But now, as the web and Google News have put The New York Times and the Palm Beach Post at equal grasp, vanilla flavored national and international coverage has become increasingly unsellable. (Local coverage is a different beast, still presenting the monopolistic/oligopolistic market condtions of yore.) Consumers want more flavorfull, more analytic national news coverage and the papers that have offered that are the ones that have maintained their appeal online. Online survival entails, quiet obviously, more than this. But this point matters a great deal.

And the biggest impediment to the survival of print media is the existence of the dinosaurs, the hanger on-ers who--by virtue of their seniority and age disproportionately influence newsroom culture and editorial decisions--still want to churn out the neapolitan flavored style copy of yesteryear.

Insomuch as they influence editorial policy, these people, like the generals of France commanding the Maginot Line in 1939, imperil the very organizations that they serve.

John Stewart and Rupert Murdoch, not unlike the Field Marshal Rommel, both have earned their fame by exploiting the opportunities that technological change have wrought and that the status quo powers of traditional media have failed to recognize and respond to in any creative, visionary, or meaningful way.

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Matt Mireles

Student. Journalist. Paramedic.

www.MattMireles.com

Thanks again to Matt. Be sure to go check out his website.

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