(Which is why I'd like to urge you all to be a little more understanding when you encounter errors - be they factual ones, or of the more nuanced and subjective variety, such as errors in news judgment - in news. It's usually not because we are evil and biased but simply because we are rushed, overworked and understaffed, particularly given the financial pressures facing the industry.)
Errors do happen... The ones I'm the least forgiving about are factual ones related to clear lack of research... The ones that annoy me personally the most though are usually when they clearly assign someone not qualified to write about tech related subjects to the matter. This can cause a lot of problems, as the public relies on the news for their information about quite a few things. In some cases it means that misunderstandings about tech may persist for years. Similar happens with science related articles. Such errors can likewise be quite annoying, especially when multiple papers just repeat the same factually inaccurate story without fact-checking.
I think that it's possible that we may see a solution soon to the financial problems of the news industry soon. It's a difficult problem, but some have been able to solve it to differing degrees. Perhaps a combination of subscription based models, blockchain, and adverts, might just allow the industry to move past it's issues of the last 2 decades.
They'll still likely be overworked and tired though. :P
AI could possibly help with fact-checking in the future though.
Thanks for the view into the life of a journalist.
One of the reasons why we end up with unqualified writers is because with shrinking newsrooms the art of beat reporting is dying. The beauty of working where I work is that i get to focus on just one or two topics (I write predominantly about crypto and investment banking), so I can invest the time in learning a lot about those topics. But a lot of newsrooms are so short staffed that they only have general assignment reporters, who get parachuted into files they don't understand and have to pump out a story in mere hours. It's virtually impossible to do nuanced, thoughtful journalism under such circumstances. And you're absolutely right that it is a huge problem! But until people are willing to open their wallets and support journalism I don't see how it will get resolved. Sadly most people still dont see the value of paying for news (unless they are wealthy Wall Street types who can expense their Financial Times or Economist subscription). Thanks for reading and for your feedback!
Yeah. I can understand that. Though I have at various times subscribed to specialized publications, I've rarely subscribed to news. I come from a different generation. I don't like sitting down to read a paper every morning.
I think to get this generation to subscribe would be a lot more difficult, though news subscriptions are actually rising. Maybe with a combination of a good email newsletter, app alerts, and content they saw value in.
Like for example, how I've subscribed to tech and science journals. If a few partnered and gave discounts for subscribing to multiple ones, and advertised eachother, then had combined billing, it might work. Then maybe it would be a few bucks for each, and I'd get digital versions of some tech magazines, plus news from a few different sources, with my favourite publications for different categories.
But see, even with my example of how maybe it might work, I can see a potentially huge problem. In addition to the fact that many papers will be unwilling to work with eachother, they also all want people to subscribe to the whole thing. I wouldn't mind having world news from The Guardian, plus Financial and National from something like the NY Times, and Maybe National from SF Gate as well, but that would mean subscribing to all of them, rather than for example just ticking a few boxes and having one total bill that's actually pretty reasonable for what might amount to a great combo of news.
Make it convenient and easy, and people will pay for it. Netflix proved this. We all can easily pirate, and yet most people don't even bother anymore unless the movie's not even on Netflix or Hulu, etc.
Yeah, I know a few Canadian magazines tried that and I'm not entirely sure why it failed. I have indeed heard from a lot of young people that they would subscribe if it was a Netflix-like model. Surely someone will figure this out eventually. I'm not too worried because there will ALWAYS be a need for news and professional content creation, it's just a matter of where, when and how.
I don't think a Netflix like model would work well enough. Too much content for too cheap. The reason Netflix works is because movies are actually a LOT cheaper than people realize. At least they are to play. It's only a few cents to play a movie actually. That's how ad based models on TV and the internet work for them so well. Ad based models don't work so well with text based news though, because it's far more expensive. You have to write new news every day.
I was just suggesting a portal of sorts, where you can purchase and access multiple sources, and sections of multiple sources.
Someone like me might like certain computer magazines, Make magazine, New Scientist, etc, but also certain news from certain places. But I also have to see the benefit of subscribing. One such benefit might be using an app that makes it easy to keep up on certain news, without being inundated every time there's a shooting. I personally don't like a dozen or so updates every time there's a shooting. I consider it morbid and grotesque. That kind of personalization and convenience, might be something to pay for.
There are some that are able to get by on the ad based model though. There's even a paper I heard about recently using a blockchain based model. Hopefully it works for them. My overall point though is that I think the major issue is that they just have to rethink how to do things. News is worth paying for...but only if people see the benefit.
We have some pretty great newsletter services at the globe that are topic-specific so you can curate your news intake. flipboard is really well liked for this reason. maybe someone needs to make a for-profit model of flipboard where they kick back the proceeds to the news organizations and take a portion for administering the app.
And when during all of that , when to you remember to breathe? You are one busy lady, but I am so glad that there are people like you who are doing the work of keeping the rest of us informed! It is an important job that you do.
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A friend of mine is a journalist so I understand that it's not an easy job to have. It looks like you had a very busy day :) I hate such tight deadlines. It makes you feel like you can't breathe properly.. I can't even say that I wish it would be better for you because both of us know that your life will stay this hectic unless you decide to change the profession :D
Haha though I must admit I thrive on the chaos! Long deadlines make me lazy, whereas the fast pace of the news cycle makes me leap into action. It is super stressful at times but I wouldn't have it any other way :) Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts!
Errors do happen... The ones I'm the least forgiving about are factual ones related to clear lack of research... The ones that annoy me personally the most though are usually when they clearly assign someone not qualified to write about tech related subjects to the matter. This can cause a lot of problems, as the public relies on the news for their information about quite a few things. In some cases it means that misunderstandings about tech may persist for years. Similar happens with science related articles. Such errors can likewise be quite annoying, especially when multiple papers just repeat the same factually inaccurate story without fact-checking.
I think that it's possible that we may see a solution soon to the financial problems of the news industry soon. It's a difficult problem, but some have been able to solve it to differing degrees. Perhaps a combination of subscription based models, blockchain, and adverts, might just allow the industry to move past it's issues of the last 2 decades.
They'll still likely be overworked and tired though. :P
AI could possibly help with fact-checking in the future though.
Thanks for the view into the life of a journalist.
One of the reasons why we end up with unqualified writers is because with shrinking newsrooms the art of beat reporting is dying. The beauty of working where I work is that i get to focus on just one or two topics (I write predominantly about crypto and investment banking), so I can invest the time in learning a lot about those topics. But a lot of newsrooms are so short staffed that they only have general assignment reporters, who get parachuted into files they don't understand and have to pump out a story in mere hours. It's virtually impossible to do nuanced, thoughtful journalism under such circumstances. And you're absolutely right that it is a huge problem! But until people are willing to open their wallets and support journalism I don't see how it will get resolved. Sadly most people still dont see the value of paying for news (unless they are wealthy Wall Street types who can expense their Financial Times or Economist subscription). Thanks for reading and for your feedback!
Yeah. I can understand that. Though I have at various times subscribed to specialized publications, I've rarely subscribed to news. I come from a different generation. I don't like sitting down to read a paper every morning.
I think to get this generation to subscribe would be a lot more difficult, though news subscriptions are actually rising. Maybe with a combination of a good email newsletter, app alerts, and content they saw value in.
Like for example, how I've subscribed to tech and science journals. If a few partnered and gave discounts for subscribing to multiple ones, and advertised eachother, then had combined billing, it might work. Then maybe it would be a few bucks for each, and I'd get digital versions of some tech magazines, plus news from a few different sources, with my favourite publications for different categories.
But see, even with my example of how maybe it might work, I can see a potentially huge problem. In addition to the fact that many papers will be unwilling to work with eachother, they also all want people to subscribe to the whole thing. I wouldn't mind having world news from The Guardian, plus Financial and National from something like the NY Times, and Maybe National from SF Gate as well, but that would mean subscribing to all of them, rather than for example just ticking a few boxes and having one total bill that's actually pretty reasonable for what might amount to a great combo of news.
Make it convenient and easy, and people will pay for it. Netflix proved this. We all can easily pirate, and yet most people don't even bother anymore unless the movie's not even on Netflix or Hulu, etc.
Yeah, I know a few Canadian magazines tried that and I'm not entirely sure why it failed. I have indeed heard from a lot of young people that they would subscribe if it was a Netflix-like model. Surely someone will figure this out eventually. I'm not too worried because there will ALWAYS be a need for news and professional content creation, it's just a matter of where, when and how.
I don't think a Netflix like model would work well enough. Too much content for too cheap. The reason Netflix works is because movies are actually a LOT cheaper than people realize. At least they are to play. It's only a few cents to play a movie actually. That's how ad based models on TV and the internet work for them so well. Ad based models don't work so well with text based news though, because it's far more expensive. You have to write new news every day.
I was just suggesting a portal of sorts, where you can purchase and access multiple sources, and sections of multiple sources.
Someone like me might like certain computer magazines, Make magazine, New Scientist, etc, but also certain news from certain places. But I also have to see the benefit of subscribing. One such benefit might be using an app that makes it easy to keep up on certain news, without being inundated every time there's a shooting. I personally don't like a dozen or so updates every time there's a shooting. I consider it morbid and grotesque. That kind of personalization and convenience, might be something to pay for.
There are some that are able to get by on the ad based model though. There's even a paper I heard about recently using a blockchain based model. Hopefully it works for them. My overall point though is that I think the major issue is that they just have to rethink how to do things. News is worth paying for...but only if people see the benefit.
We have some pretty great newsletter services at the globe that are topic-specific so you can curate your news intake. flipboard is really well liked for this reason. maybe someone needs to make a for-profit model of flipboard where they kick back the proceeds to the news organizations and take a portion for administering the app.
And when during all of that , when to you remember to breathe? You are one busy lady, but I am so glad that there are people like you who are doing the work of keeping the rest of us informed! It is an important job that you do.
Not till I get home! Haha. Though mindfulness is definitely something I'm trying to work on. Thanks for the encouragement!
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Thanks! I appreciate the additional eyeballs.
A friend of mine is a journalist so I understand that it's not an easy job to have. It looks like you had a very busy day :) I hate such tight deadlines. It makes you feel like you can't breathe properly.. I can't even say that I wish it would be better for you because both of us know that your life will stay this hectic unless you decide to change the profession :D
Haha though I must admit I thrive on the chaos! Long deadlines make me lazy, whereas the fast pace of the news cycle makes me leap into action. It is super stressful at times but I wouldn't have it any other way :) Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts!