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Friday, November 7, 2008
Can Print Keep Up With Digital As A Viable News Source?
Do you remember when someone said that print is a dying medium—and that the only news that counts is the news you get fast and first…no matter what the source? What about old-time newspaper reporters who say that a story isn’t printable until there are three confirmed sources? Well, we asked newshounds from both sides of the fence to defend their turf. Is there room for heavily reported news in a world increasingly turning to fast-talking bloggers who often take the ball and run with it…sometimes without considering who handed it to them?
The Old School.jpg)
Keith Kelly
Media Columnist, New York Post
“We’re still in the business of breaking real news. And we do it in a bold, but responsible way. But, in a way, we have migrated to a position where the industry insiders are not necessarily expecting every rat-a-tat-tat on the media world. They do expect context, intelligence and news that for the most part still has some kind of big-picture, financial hook to it. The blogs might run a story that says, ‘We hear bad stuff is going to happen at company X.’ Our job is to find out whether X.’ Our job is to find out whether that ‘bad stuff’ is just a wild rumor that’s making the rounds—and precisely what it is.’ The media sites are fast. But some of them are just as loose. They can run a story that says, ‘Hey we heard this, does anyone have any idea if it is true?’ There’s something they’re going to need to learn when they graduate to mainstream media—it’s a little thing we like to call ‘research.’ You don’t run with something until you can nail it down. That’s reporting 101.”
The New School
Brandy Navarre
Co-Owner of celebrity news, photo and gossip site X17online.com
“The Internet is infinitely more interesting than magazines because of the immediacy of the medium and the  democracy of publication on the Web. Web sites are on the fast track, obsessed with minute-to-minute deadlines, while print is publishing the leftovers.
Entertainment sites have forced magazines to put millions in celebrities’ pockets to guarantee exclusive interviews and photos. The clincher is that, while mags like People and Hello! can reportedly pay a whopper of a figure for pix of Brad and Angelina’s twins, a picture like X17’s exclusive photo of Britney Spears shaving her head is worth more than those other two ‘scoops’ combined. X17online broke the story that Britney was melting down, we had the pictures and video first and we followed the news more closely than anyone for the next year. That kind of coverage could never have been achieved by a magazine and, believe me, the print world has taken notice.
Web sites are breaking stories with increasing frequency, and as soon as a few more advertising dollars shift to the online world, the biggest sites will snag journalists from the magazines. The magazine racks at the grocery store check-out may be empty one day.”
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