Search Engines Level the Playing Field for Bloggers - News or Newsworthy
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I think it’s important to point out the difference between news and newsworthy. The definition of news is “information about recent events or happenings, especially as reported by newspapers, periodicals, radio, or television,” or “a presentation of such information, as in a newspaper or on a newscast.” The definition of newsworthy is “of sufficient interest or importance to the public to warrant reporting in the media.” The mere definition of newsworthy is indicative of someone’s, or a group of someone’s, opinion. After all, what is of interest or important to you may be an entirely different matter to me.
In media trends, it seems that only the bad news really gets the attention. Unfortunately, the media's emphasis on bad news is intrinsic to journalism: the attitude that if nothing is going wrong, it's not really newsworthy doesn’t fly with a lot of people. It really is rare that you seen breaking news in which a good thing is happening. Throw in rampant bias based upon political, religious, or racial views, and suddenly, it really ceases to be news at all, even if it may be considered newsworthy.
In Yahoo’s own blog, they give a poignant example: “During Hurricane Katrina millions of people came to Yahoo! News for authoritative information. At the same time thousands of bloggers were posting first-hand accounts, photos, personal stories, and opinions. But without mainstream exposure, many important voices went unheard.” The professional media somewhere along the way decided that this simply wasn’t newsworthy. I ask you: who gave them the authority to decide this for the rest of the community? Is the media the ultimate expert on what I consider newsworthy? Or did our need, as humans, to be shocked and distressed, determine that for us? I honestly believe that it boils down to what really sells.
I can see both sides of the argument, and can agree with each on its own merit. But what is clear to me is that we have indeed moved closer towards leveling the playing field a little bit between journalists and bloggers, at least where the search engines are concerned. The voice of the community should be heard. It is, after all, the community’s voice that is the driving force of what is of particular interest, and therefore newsworthy.
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