On how technology will affect newsgathering and news consumption

David Carr - see complete article

On how technology will affect newsgathering and news consumption:

I think people assume that, "Oh, we'll be able to use the web to assemble a portrait of the world beyond our town," and the fact is that Google News or whatever RSS feeder you've got, most of it is just annotating coverage. Somebody has to make phone calls somewhere in order for news to function.

Where are the data inputs coming from? Where is the information coming from? In other words, who is making the phone calls? Who is sending the emails? You cannot have a robust discourse without a database of current information. And if the information that's being culled through is just government-issued data without a critical eye or editing, then you're going to end up with a fairly dumb republic.

There's a conceit that young people get their news from the Jon Stewart show or get their news from the web, but there was a study not long ago at Ball State, and if you're talking, say, 18 to 24, young people just don't get their news. That's all there is to it. They don't have a strong interest in it. So there you have a very attractive advertising demographic where there's no upside in serving them with that kind of information, because they have no interest or need. There's not much news on a Playstation, man.

A great article on how everyone thinks MSM journalists are biased

Here's an excerpt from a wonderful piece that addresses the attack from right and left on the so-called mainstream media.
click here for full story
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People whose goal is to get rich don’t usually go to journalism school. The profession attracts an odd combination of cynics and save-the-worlders. Sometimes they’re even combined in one person. We worry a lot about gender and ethnic diversity but not so much about ideological diversity.

That’s because we’re supposed to have only one bias, and that’s for a good story. In telling those stories, we try to get as close to the truth as possible. But in chasing those stories — and, more importantly, in deciding which stories to chase — you bring along your own personal baggage. Your own experiences. What your friends think. Where you live. Where you go to church. If you go to church.

here's an excerpt of an excellent piece - while it does not deal with technology, it does deal in a direct and excellent way with how both left and right perceive bias in the "mainstream media."
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/kevinhorrigan/story/6815A511C8017FC38625710B002AC626?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2C%22news%22+AND+%22media%22
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The News Media: Down by the old mainstream

By Kevin Horrigan

The whole concept of a neutral, unbiased press is a relatively new one. American journalism was highly partisan well into the 20th century. The notion of a professional press wasn’t codified until Walter Williams founded the University of Missouri journalism school in 1908.

Today, when everyone with a $500 computer and an Internet connection can be his own publisher, we’re headed back in