Opening The Internet Floodgates
(nationaljournal.com) The message from news consumers to the traditional news outlets, from the daily papers to the cable news channels and the Big Three networks, is becoming increasingly clear: "If you don't deliver what we want, we'll find it elsewhere. Ignore us at your own risk." This isn't a new message, but it's one that poses a growing risk that consumers will go elsewhere -- and not return. Traditional media outlets have yet to grasp a simple fact of today's information landscape: They are no longer the prime gatekeepers of news. . . .The Nick Berg story is just the latest example. The refusal of traditional media outlets to run either video or still pictures of the decapitation may have satisfied the traditional rules and guidelines. But it clearly ignored the demand of today's audience. So instead of turning to the nightly news or the daily paper, the Internet was the destination for untold numbers of people who wanted to see the video or pictures for themselves. → Full Story
Related Note: Squared actually blanched when he clicked to the above-mentioned piece about the Nick Berg beheading and spotted this label over the column: "TALKING HEADS." (!?!) Yeah, that's the name of the standing column but c'mon, couldn't a sharp editor have yanked that for this week given the context?