“How News is Made” by Dale Dougherty
Boing Boing is running an article by Dale Dougherty on how news is supposedly made.
Dougherty, the developer and publisher of Global Network Navigator (the first commercial Web site), contends journalists are lazy and do not question numbers enough.
An excerpt:
Journalists were good students. I was told the answer so I just have to repeat it using my own words because if we all gave exactly the same answer in the same words, that would be copying.
Don’t you just wish that journalists wouldn’t make up answers to questions they can’t answer? Don’t you wish they could sift through self-serving research and not repeat numbers that are at the least, meaningless, if not wholly bogus?
The funny thing is that this same news is made every year in the same way as reliably as the turkey at Thanksgiving. The Internet allows us to see how news is made, as though we were walking through a factory tour, and we can compare the very similar results of a mass production system. Turns out the news can be as fake as a department store Santa.
An interesting, if unacquainted, critique…
The “same news” is known as evergreen stories. Christmas happens every year. It’s always news, as are most major holidays. Newspapers aim to serve their community and these events affect many readers.
Of course story leads will bear similarities throughout the countries. There’s only so many ways to introduce a story detailing a rise in sales.
Yes, many stories originate with press releases but journalism is hardly an untouchable bastion of elitist big-wigs. Press releases are sent by non-profit organizations and multi-million dollar corporations alike. If anybody believes they have a newsworthy story, it’s as easy as calling or e-mailing your local editor.
Dougherty believes journalists are far more obtuse or insidious than actuality. Still, the story’s worth a read.
