News: Television and Newspapers cannot compete

Mike's blog round up included this great article about the failure of Mainstream media in the months prior to the Iraq war from FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Media). It highlights the fact that many people were not convinced about Iraq's WMD. Quite a few journalists were trying to report information that ran counter to the administrations' claims, but mainstream media just wasn't interested in publishing that point of view. Therefore we, as the public, did receive "Biased" news as a result. Compounding that problem were the limits of traditional media.

Reading through today's newspapers, as well as watching a major television news channel- I find them utterly lacking in the details that I crave so much. Am I just a news junkie? Well, yes- but it doesn't excuse the fact that traditional news sources are just incapable of providing the whole story with their limited scope.

The internet is not only the future of news reporting- It is the PRESENT. Television and papers are just the past. There is no way that they can compete in providing the information. You don't have a script running on the bottom of CNN that cites sources for what they decide to tell you at any given minute. You can only receive information as fast as an anchor cas speak. You can't get more info about a story of interest immediately. A major newspaper's main section can be read in about 10 minutes. If a certain story interests me, I generally research enough information on the web on it that would have filled the entire section by itself.

As far as the cons of Internet news,I would say that you have to be careful of finding false or misleading stories on the internet, but with the careful scrutinizing that goes into every major post of an internet news website by its readers, in the comments and with the wide array of watchdog organizations that you can find at the click of a few keys- fact finding is a matter of effort on your part, not lack of information. And when you consider the declining quality of traditional media it makes this a moot point anyway. Give me the internet over the shoddy and incomplete reporting that is provided by tv and the papers anyday.

So, the problem with the today's news sources is not only one of bias, but also that most Americans have their news restricted by the very means of viewing it. As more and more Americans get access to the internet, this will not be a problem any longer.

Traditional news is on its death bed. With less accountability instead of more, newspapers and television news channels are slowly killing themselves. As people realize that they cannot trust these sources for unbiased reporting, they will want to seek out their own news on the internet.

Here are my News sources: My home page is MSNBC. I find, time and time again, that they usually have a quick scoop on most issues that stays pretty much, on course. Their polls are terribly worded, though, and usually show a little inherent bias that slants toward the right. And on three occasions I have seen them "scrub" previous posts- completely erase them or update them substantially with no way to view the post and no notes of what was "corrected"/removed.
But all in all, it's easy to use and accurate. As for where you go from your main page- that's up to you. Don't get all your news in one place. And if something seems a little off- it's in my experience that it probably is. Research, research, research. The truth is out there. Go get it!