Archive for February, 2007
Recent Articles
- If you haven’t been there already
- This week in Der Spiegel
- Ira Glass: “Newspapers and network news deserve to die”
- Band of Doctors
- Starbucks Faces Problems in New York City
- Changing Media Landscape - Discussion at the J-School
- New Media, New Opportunities
- Bike Share in New York City
- Life in a Radio Bubble - Recap of Election Night Coverage
- Rachel Sklar will do twitter interview after leaving Huffington Post
Featured Articles
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Phil Rosenthal, writer of the Chicago Tribune asks: “Now that people get what they want the way they want on the Internet, where does that leave those mainstream media outlets that, in traditional fashion, pair the news people want with the news it is thought they need?” Charles Gibson, anchor of ABC World News Tonight, has [...]
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The “U.S. vs. Libby” lawsuit did not only put an administration and its actions in the wake of the Iraq war on trial, but featured many stars of the political media landscape on the witness stand. I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former top aide to Vice-President Dick Cheney was on trial for purgery and obstruction to federal [...]
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An attentive observer could come to the conclusion that the conflict in Iraq was solved a long time ago, the next elections would still be years away and all political issues resolved. At least one will get this impression when tuning in to either MSNBC or FOX News these days. While President Bush is announcing his [...]
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In 2006, the Tyndall Report notices a bigger coverage of the Iraq war in the American media than in 2005. Hurricane Katrina also is still among the leaders in the battle for airtime minutes. For 20 years, the report of Andrew Tyndall measures each evening which topics get the most coverage among the three leading evening [...]
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Each Sunday, Tim Russert, host of NBC’s Meet the Press, interviews the most influential politicians and most important press members in his Sunday talk show and it should come to no surprise that there is only one topic since the mid-term elections: Iraq. In a recent episode, Russert talked to two columnists of The New York [...]
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The selection of news
Phil Rosenthal, writer of the Chicago Tribune asks: “Now that people get what they want the way they want on the Internet, where does that leave those mainstream media outlets that, in traditional fashion, pair the news people want with the news it is thought they need?”
Charles Gibson, anchor of ABC World News Tonight, has an answer: The importance of the mass media, in his opinion, has not shrunk, but rather increased because of the Internet.
“You are choosing the particular kind of news that’s interesting to you,” Gibson states. We become more important because our mission is to expose you to things you wouldn’t have clicked on.”
It sounds as if someone is trying to defend an elite status, Phil Rosenthal argues, but Gibson counters, “It’s a defense of journalism. It’s not that we know better. It’s not an elitist function. It’s an editorial function. It is a function of taking a look at what’s important in diet of daily news and saying, `Here’s what I feel is important.’”
Gibson made those remarks on a day in which the whole nation was watching news of the death of Anna Nicole Smith. His broadcast, mind you, started its program with news about the increase of autism.
It is truly an interesting thesis and not to be taken slightly. Mass media was able to influence the public discourse with its selection of news for many years. Today, it tends to bring attention to news, that would certainly be left out of the conversation.
You could see it as a last charge by an industry in pressing needs to defend its powerful status. As a consumer, you can also see it as a chance to be informed about news that you would not have noticed in the massive amounts of information, or ignored altogether. The former gatekeepers can merely shift our attention to their selection of news. The public discourse is defined by others.
Works Cited:
Rosenthal, Phil. “Gibson thinks old-style news more vital now” Chicago Tribune 9 Feb. 2007. 18 Mar. 2007
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