There is more to journalism than pushing a Publish button. That's the headline.
There is a bias to the Internet for amateurs and immediacy. That's the essay.
Nieman Reports' latest issue examines current and prospective digital news matters, and the Douglas Rushkoff essay was the first of several to draw my attention. He argues that the craft of journalism is suffering at the hands of technological access. Technological revolutionaries mistakenly confuse access with skill.
"Just because a kid now enjoys the typing skill and distribution network once exclusive to a professional journalist doesn’t mean he knows how to research, report or write. It’s as if a teenager who has played Guitar Hero got his hands on a real Stratocaster—and thinks he’s ready for an arena show," he writes.
Rushkoff notes that many of the same companies criticized for corporate media are making money off the free writing on the Web. Value is being extracted, just not at the same place.
"Worst of all, those of us still in a position to say something about any of this are labeled elitists or Luddites—as if we are the ones attempting to repress the natural evolution of culture. Rather, it’s the same old spectacle working its magic through a now-decentralized media space. The results—ignorance, anger, and anti-elitism—are the same.
There is a bias to the Internet for amateurs and immediacy. That's the essay.
Nieman Reports' latest issue examines current and prospective digital news matters, and the Douglas Rushkoff essay was the first of several to draw my attention. He argues that the craft of journalism is suffering at the hands of technological access. Technological revolutionaries mistakenly confuse access with skill.
"Just because a kid now enjoys the typing skill and distribution network once exclusive to a professional journalist doesn’t mean he knows how to research, report or write. It’s as if a teenager who has played Guitar Hero got his hands on a real Stratocaster—and thinks he’s ready for an arena show," he writes.
Rushkoff notes that many of the same companies criticized for corporate media are making money off the free writing on the Web. Value is being extracted, just not at the same place.
"Worst of all, those of us still in a position to say something about any of this are labeled elitists or Luddites—as if we are the ones attempting to repress the natural evolution of culture. Rather, it’s the same old spectacle working its magic through a now-decentralized media space. The results—ignorance, anger, and anti-elitism—are the same.
