What is the Future of News?

As a child of the digital age who voraciously consumes news on applications, such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and Drudge Report, on my iPhone and computer, I have always taken for granted that newspapers will likely shift to digital forms.  Growing up with this mentality, the loss of hard copy newspapers does not have the same poignant effect on me as it does for those used were born in an era in which newspapers were the primary source of news.  However, upon greater research, I have found that not only is the format changing, but more importantly, the content of the news available is being altered.

In essence, the emergence of the Internet is reflecting a fast-paced society.  John Carey and Nancy Hicks Maynard point out in “The Future of News, The Future of Journalism” that there are expanding sources of news that serve dual functions with search engines, such as Google and Yahoo! News.  Moreover, these authors also mention the novelty of any person to contribute to and respond to news through blog sources.  The trend toward the Internet appears to be effective, as evidenced by the New York Times being able to reach 50 million global users by going online, which is elaborated further in the following link in Newsonomics: http://newsonomics.com/new-new-york-times-plan-digital-world-domination/.

On the other hand, with these new outlets at the citizens’ disposal comes with a changed writing style.  From the vantage point of journalists, this ability to post content constantly, and as Carey and Maynard add, they have less time to analyze the events they are covering, and the consumers of this news react more and assess less.  As she openly states in Newseum’s episode entitled “The Future of News: Print News: Can it Survive?” Tina Brown feeds into this trend with her online publication Daily Beast which gives a “cheat sheet” of a summary of a news story complete with a link if one wishes to read further.

However, a major paradigm shift is occurring that is much more troubling than not being able to hold as many crisp newspapers.  What concerns me more is that the public is getting news that is extremely condensed, which has the disturbing potential to result in an uninformed public.  Although Cary and Maynard make numerous salient points, I believe they did not express this concern often enough.  While I applaud Tina Brown’s creativity and diverse accomplishments, I maintain her website is doing a disservice to the American public.  Even though I consume much of my news online, I firmly believe it is important to take the time to thoroughly examine an issue presented in an article rather than reading a “cheat sheet” which gives the temptation to delude oneself into believing one fully understands the article at hand.  Further, since more news is migrating online, I have a deeper fear when reading about lower-income residents of Kansas City, Missouri who do not have access to the Internet (a New York Times article elaborates further on this topic: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/us/in-one-city-signing-up-for-internet-becomes-a-civic-cause.html).  

In short, while I am excited and embrace the many opportunities the Internet brings, I have grave concerns about being lulled into complacency by the equivalent of increased fast-food news in the future, quick and satisfying in the short run but ultimately unhealthy.