This blog is mainly about the spectacular train wreck at The Sacramento Bee and its parent company, the McClatchy Company. But I also post about current events, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, politics, anything else that grabs my attention. Take a look around this blog, hope you enjoy it.
Friday, August 14, 2009
What newspapers must learn from bloggers to survive
What a shame, (or blessing) that this is the first one McClatchy threw out the window:
5. Your main asset is credibility, not money or size. The difference between you and a blog isn’t the writing, or how fast you get the news, or how big you are, or even how deep your pockets are … but how much people trust you. This trust is huge, actually, because it means when others might break the news before you, people will still want you to confirm that it’s true. Whatever you do, don’t lose that trust. Use it to your advantage. Blogs are building that trust as we speak, and if you break the trust in any way, you’ll lose everything.
People trusted Jim Jones. How did that turn out? The pursuit is truth as best as it can be told. I sure hope the goal of journalism never becomes solely to build trust.
I agree that trust is was the primary asset of the newspaper. The newspaper used to be a trusted part of the community, a friend invited into our home every day, a part of our daily ritual. As the media discarded their position of trust in favor of advocacy they stopped being a trusted part of life for many, many Americans. Newspapers also stopped being of unique value to advertisers because they stopped being uniquely trusted by the reader. Protecting credibility as a prime asset is wise advice.
Interesting that someone would find a conflict between trust and truth. The whole "truth to power" thing turned out to be a sham. I would have said that being careful with the truth was a good way to protect your credibility.
I think the point trying to be made is that truth is more powerful than trust. Hence, the Jim Jones point. I can trust you whether you're telling the truth or not, but the truth is simply the truth whether you like it or not.
The truth is Bill Clinton smoked pot. Did he inhale? I don't know. Yes? No? Credibility and trust is now in play.
9 comments:
What a shame, (or blessing) that this is the first one McClatchy threw out the window:
5. Your main asset is credibility, not money or size. The difference between you and a blog isn’t the writing, or how fast you get the news, or how big you are, or even how deep your pockets are … but how much people trust you. This trust is huge, actually, because it means when others might break the news before you, people will still want you to confirm that it’s true. Whatever you do, don’t lose that trust. Use it to your advantage. Blogs are building that trust as we speak, and if you break the trust in any way, you’ll lose everything.
"... … but how much people trust you."
People trusted Jim Jones. How did that turn out? The pursuit is truth as best as it can be told. I sure hope the goal of journalism never becomes solely to build trust.
I sure hope the goal of journalism never becomes solely to build trust.
You would. That is why you're going down the drain. Without it, you have nothing.
12:06AM - So, trust trumps truth, eh? Have some Kool-Aid.
I agree that trust is was the primary asset of the newspaper. The newspaper used to be a trusted part of the community, a friend invited into our home every day, a part of our daily ritual.
As the media discarded their position of trust in favor of advocacy they stopped being a trusted part of life for many, many Americans. Newspapers also stopped being of unique value to advertisers because they stopped being uniquely trusted by the reader.
Protecting credibility as a prime asset is wise advice.
12:06AM - So, trust trumps truth, eh? Have some Kool-Aid.
Trust is a byproduct of truth you fucking idiot.
Interesting that someone would find a conflict between trust and truth.
The whole "truth to power" thing turned out to be a sham.
I would have said that being careful with the truth was a good way to protect your credibility.
Gotta worry about someones arrogance who thinks that truth and credibility are in conflict.
I think the point trying to be made is that truth is more powerful than trust. Hence, the Jim Jones point. I can trust you whether you're telling the truth or not, but the truth is simply the truth whether you like it or not.
The truth is Bill Clinton smoked pot. Did he inhale? I don't know. Yes? No? Credibility and trust is now in play.
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