How do you like your NEWS? Fast, slow, accurate, gossipy...?

[FirstLight]

Hey Guys...Currently I am back in school taking my upper division classes for Communications and Journalism. Now, as a 40-something, I have been around the block a while and even worked in a real newspaper newsroom BEFORE the internet and 24-7 news cycle got as out of control as it is today. I am curious, since we all share so much information here, how do you get your news? ....and how much do you TRUST your news?

It seems to me that people are quick to bash the rise of Citizen Journalists, but during the Occupy movement when credentialed media were being rounded up and even arrested, those citizens on the ground were the ones we could rely on. After Newton and Boston, the Mainstream Media was so quick to judge and jump to conclusions, I wondered if there were any Editors left! So tell me, do prefer it fast and sloppy, or would you prefer to wait for a day or so and get the scoop from reporters on the ground who may have a better grip of things?

I'd post a poll, but apparently I lost my star a few months ago...

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. At times it takes time to get news

And depends on a story. A board...at times take time get background. A fast moving fire, we need to get the info from fire guys ASAP to save lives

Both, incidentally, are full of hot air

[FirstLight]

2. very true...

It DOS depend on the story, I know you have experience with this as well, Nadin.

I guess I am just interested in how many of us actually subscribe to the 'instant update' type of news..Because it seems less and less accurate to me. It's more about instant gratification, shock factor, and entertainment - not facts.

As someone who has left cable behind and now get most of my news either from local news outlets online or by aggregate sites, I think I am slower on the uptake than most. I live in a rural area and that too is part of my tendency to slack off on bigger issues, because it doesn't seem to affect me as much. And as for big government stories, well... all they do is make me feel mad and useless!

[southernyankeebelle]

3. I like the news accurate and explained simply.

[FirstLight]

4. TV? ONLINE? Written or Video?

there's some clarification

[ananda]

5. All of the above.

[hay rick]

6. Citizen journalists are an ad hoc solution to declining ethics in journalism.

We have a captive media establishment in which coverage is largely dictated by maintaining corporate-friendly narratives. Citizen reporters can call bullshit on the worst abuses, but they are an inadequate substitute for independent, professional journalism.

[FirstLight]

7. I totally agree!

The problem with citizen journalism IMO is not so much accuracy or integrity, but the ad hoc nature of the genre means the reach is not there. During the Occupy movement, we NEEDED those people on the ground to give us the eye witness info. And there were a couple of the Live Streamers who did a GREAT job of interviewing, assessing information, even talking to Police... but they were not picked up by any of the mainstream outlets and so their reach was limited to those of us who were actually FOLLOWING the story.
I see the decline in corporate media and the distrust people have in them, but at the same time we keep going to them for our news because they have the reach and scope... HOW do we undermine that corporate agenda? I don't know...
But I hope that as I grow in my education and my degree makes it possible for me to get better job offers, I will lean to Indie sources for job searching...

[leveymg]

8. More skeptical of official sources, more critical of authority, more broadly sourced.

Kind of like what we have here, combined with other more specialized sites on the web. It is still possible to get a fairly accurate picture of what's going on in the world if you know how to analyze news content and get a wide enough sampling of it.

Single-sourced corporate news -- the CNN or network news model -- is becoming an extinct business model, and for good reason.

[Phillip McCleod]

9. i like to get my news via the written word..

..preferably the *well* written word.. almost gone from the internet.

these days? honestly i read this site and follow links.. plus i keep up with thinkprogress, politicususa.com, salon/alternet. i used to read nytimes.. until they threw up a paywall, so now i read them when that's where the link leads.

[FirstLight]

10. ya, paywalls are the kiss of death

But then I wonder how we still manage to keep the lights on for small indie news sources...

What's funny, is we have a local aggregate site here that also links to Sac Bee, Reno Gazette and Carson Valey News...They were already taking the readership because of good reporting aside form aggregate stories, and local citizen reporters were doing a helluva job, (even though they were unpaid.) When CVN threw up a paywall, they lost almost another 20% of their readership to this guy. Now I don't know how he is expanding or modeling his business, but I would bet it's NOT the usual type of money making...let's hope he has some paid positions coming soon too

[Phillip McCleod]

11. i worked in print and newspaper for more than a decade..

..starting on light tables and linotype machines. saw the writing on the CRT in the '90s and went back to school for math & teh interwebz.

sad sad thing is.. and i love newsprint and have produced my own print publications since i left the biz.. a lot of newspapers kinda deserve to fold (pun intended). the myth of the independent newspaper is just that. they were *always* beholden to advertisers. they self-censored viewpoints that the internet cannot help but to permit.

if anything, the info age has rattled that cage and good.

[loli phabay]

12. BBC style ala Trevor McDonald.

[winter is coming]

13. I value accuracy over speed.

The 24-hour news cycle hasn't meant more news. It's meant the same cupful of shallow news, regurgitated several times per day. Most news is now infotainment, and short on the info.

Newspapers used to be worth reading, but not so much anymore. News from things like twitter definitely has its niche -- it's real-time and often provides a perspective you likely won't see on TV -- but you have to be aware that some tweets will be intentional lies and others may be filtered through the emotions, perspective, and agenda of the sender.