Comm455/History of Journalism

I can remember just a mere two years ago — I was taking a class that gave news quizzes, we had to know local and global news. I can remember being told to “read the Richmond Times Dispatch and The Washington Post.” Now only two year later, being told to read the newspaper is like being told to use snail mail… it almost seems ridiculous.

With 24 hour live streaming news, who needs to wait for it to be printed the next day? We have instant alerts on our phones, constant access to current and changing news on the computer and even channels on our TV’s solely devoted to news. The constant flow of news is causing our local news programs to compete to see who can start the earliest, stressing the difference between 4:25am and 4:30am.

But has this greater access to news made us more aware? Or have we spiraled into a news overload?

“Nowadays,” said Bob Walsh in All The News Doesn’t Fit, “with text, audio and video feeds from every major and minor news organization a click away, Google News, news alerts, RSS, IM and all the rest, you have about as much chance of getting your head clear as surviving 10 fire hoses turned full on at your face. ”

Walsh used to be a reported in San Francisco for the United Press International, so he understands the amount of news that the media is throwing at us.

With the news constantly flowing around us, how much do we really absorb? Are we less informed about what is going on now that we have complete and total access to the news? Now that we do not have to wait until our  nightly news comes on to find out what all the commotion in DC was about?

In early August 2000, BBC News wanted to know what their reader thought, after ITN launched a 24-hour news service that competed with Sky News, BBC News 24 and CNN.

Find out how the news changed for people around the world here.

But how do we decipher what we need from what we don’t? Walsh has a few tips to help:

• AUDIT all of the news feeds you see: what is worth keeping? What is just noise? TURN OFF the noise.
• DECIDED when and how you want to get your information, TAKE CONTROLL. You do not need to hear the news all day long, decided when you want to and take it in then, in the meantime go on with your life.
  Don’t fret: if something big like September 11th happens again… You’ll know.
• LOOK for news and analysis, keep in mind that the mainstream media is not going to give you the whole picture — look to blogs for a greater picture.