WHAT GIVES : Click here Internet presents opportunities, challenges in using information
Posted on Sunday, June 29, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/66716/
As one would expect, my view is that the rumors of newspapers’ demise has been greatly exaggerated. Recent times have not been good to newspapers at the national level. Publicly owned companies that took on a lot of debt and relied on massive profits are slicing jobs left and right. The economic downturn has left some companies with no choice but to cut personnel just to pay the bills.
But newspapers are good for the American people. Newsgathering fulfills a critical role in this republic by delivering information citizens need to be active parts of their community, state, nation and world.
With the amazing expansion of access to the Internet from practically anywhere — from desktop computers, to laptops, to cell phones — people have a vast array of options for getting information.
State Rep. Steve Harrelson of Texarkana visited Fayetteville Friday to speak to the Political Animals Club of Northwest Arkansas. Harrelson has made quite a name for himself as one of the state’s premier political bloggers. His site, http: // www. underthedome. com, is frequently cited by political junkies as a must-read as it keeps up with the goings-on in Arkansas politics throughout the state.
Harrelson dazzled the crowd by having host Richard Hudson take his picture with a pocket-sized digital camera. While the audience watched on a large overhead screen, Harrelson posted the picture of himself on his blog within about two minutes of it being shot. Even as he continued to speak, he had already updated his readers about what he was doing.
You cannot beat the Internet for immediacy. For example, on Friday morning, the Northwest Arkansas Times site at http: // www. nwanews. com had posted two breaking news items. Moments after the Prairie Grove School Board hired Fayetteville Associate Superintendent Randy Willison as its new superintendent, our online readers knew about it. Likewise, our readers knew quickly that Chris Bucknam had been hired as the University of Arkansas’ new head coach for track.
The speed of information flow on the Internet, Harrelson says, is “ the reason I believe that more and more people are using the Internet as a source for news, so long as they can trust the source. ”
You also can’t beat the Internet for interactivity. Our sports department posts to a blog called The Slophouse. It’s all about Razorback sports, and it has a great audience of readers who themselves contribute to discussions about the ins and outs of Razorback athletics.
But with the Internet comes multiple challenges.
As Harrelson noted, trusting the source can be an issue. Clearly, he knows that the Internet is filled with blogs or other Web sites that have no responsibility to the greater good and that serve primarily as a soapbox for the blogger to espouse his or her viewpoint while “ spinning ” news to meet preconceived perspectives. Opinion is presented as fact and information is often
.
That’s not a knock on the people who are blogging. Some of them do excellent work in ferreting out great information on local, state and national issues. It is a knock on anyone who reads one or two blogs or Web sites then count themselves among the “ informed. ”
Harrelson himself acknowledges that the main purpose for his blog is to create a direct, “ unfiltered” method for him, as an elected state representative, to communicate with his constituents. Harrelson is expected to extend his political career well beyond the House of Representatives. Garnering a little statewide name recognition through his efforts won’t hurt one bit.
Another challenge arising from the Internet is making it consumable. Rain, for example, is a good thing, but as the people of Iowa know, too much of it can be hard to handle. The explosion of information available on the Internet is great, indeed, but it can be overwhelming.
Newspapers across the country have played a key role in delivering information to Americans for decades. They’ve earned credibility by using journalistic practices that strive toward objectivity. As they evolve further in the Internet Age, the newsgathering and, yes, editing functions of newspapers will still play a critical role in informing the people of the nation.
So many of the blogs that have gained audiences (and the thousands that haven’t ) rely heavily on the newsgathering resources of so-called traditional media to provide material to which they respond. Without the newsgatherers, many of those sites would see their material dry up.
The trick for newspapers everywhere has been finding a business model that helps pay the freight for those newsgathering operations. If local newspapers had to support their newsrooms only on the revenue from online sources, newsrooms would shrink dramatically. Print still pays the bills.
As time marches on, newspaper companies will continue to focus on what they’ve done well for years and years: Seek to be credible, trustworthy sources of information that people need to live and work in their communities and to govern themselves. To whatever extent they can translate that to new methods of delivery, they’ll have much to offer for readers.
Greg Harton is executive editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times. His columns appear on Sunday.