But as it is with good old traditional marketing and distribution, digital promotion should have a limited role, if at all, in determining the seriousness, substance or even style of journalism.
Increasingly, young and inexperienced smorgs choose headlines, determine the duration and at times the very handling of news coverage in order to ensure wider reach. That’s a problem.
These data crunchers and #trending watchers may have a say in terms of presentation but not the priorities of a news organisation.
Yes, their role is increasingly paramount for the very survival of a news organisation, but shouldn’t be a determining factor in covering or analysing the news.
Although we are rapidly moving away from the newsstand and the TV set to the digital platforms, the same social principles, professional ethics, and market forces continue to apply just the same. And so are the choices we make.
Probably the best article I’ve read all week. I feel bad for anyone who went to J-School that’s doing this kind of journalism for a living. I feel even worse for the newspaper editors that have to put up with these kids so that they can save real-journalism.
The whole industry is in a scary seesaw between catering to viral trending content and reporting on the news, both things which no reader actually wants to pay for.