I know there are many people ultimately thinking the “mainstream” or traditional, classic newspapers are all delivering fake news, trash, and only some new sites and blogs can be trusted. Fortunately, not all have this opinion. Think about this: Who can be trusted more? A site which has clear, visible incomes from the ads on the site, and the owners, shareholders are well known? Or some no-name blog, unknown site living from unknown resources? A social media post or email hoax from unknown sources circulating many years on the internet?

There are newspapers living of their fame, of being honest and reliable – for decades and decades.

Tired of trash?

But there is another, quality issue and that’s also why I think bigger news companies have a future. Ever got tired from the endless stream of bad blog posts, erroneous articles, grammar errors, broken sentences and other garbage of information on the internet? (Yes, often also on Steem sites.)

I’m looking for a decent, reliable, professionally made – and free – news site many times and can’t find it. Really free sites aren’t really good, and good sites aren’t really free. At least they are full of ads, trackers and other stuff. “7 ads, 12 trackers and 28 cookies blocked” – says my ad-blocker. But many sites don’t work anymore with ad-blockers on.

The not-so-easy way

How do you make a blog post? You can simply write it and that’s all. If your readers are lucky you read it twice and use the spell checker in your word processor program. If they are luckier, you use also a grammar or readability checker. But do you know how a classic, printed newspaper (was) made? Mostly in 7 steps, as I worked in the printed press some years ago:

1. The reporter or journalist wrote the article.
2. The same journalist read it again.
3. The redactor, mostly the redactor of the respective section (like politics, business, science etc.) read it and corrected it.
4. The “lector” or “publisher’s reader” also corrected it. (This person is mainly responsible for spelling and readability but also for any kind of other errors.)
5. An editor in chief (or senior editor, responsible for all the content of the newspaper on that day) also revised the text.
6. The layout editor designed the pages and printed them.
7. After that, the editor in chief and a lector made a quick final revision before it was sent to the printing press.

Professionals and amateurs

And even so could happen that some errors or mistakes, typographic failures appeared in the final, printed version. Although, far less than in the blogs and superficial news sites of today.

Journalism is a profession. (Photography, movie making or web design, also.) Being a doctor, or policemen, or ambulance driver, other professions. Do you prefer a doctor or a policeman with a good education and many years of professional experience? Or a newbie, a hobby-policeman or hobby-driver? A professional journalist, or a hobby-blogger? You decide.

Fortunately, on the blog sites, your life is not in danger. But even so, if you get tired of amateurs you should search for a good website.

(Photo: Pixabay)