Chris Paterson, a professor of media studies at the University of Leeds (full disclosure: He's also a Newsdesk.org adviser), published a study recently finding, contrary to expectations and industry hype, that information diversity and sourcing for international news online is actually *declining*.
There's research to back his conclusions, which can be found in the full paper here:
"News Agency Dominance in International News on the Internet"
http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/cicr/exhibits/42/cicrpaterson.pdf
For a quicker read:
"Beyond the Wire"
The Listener (New Zealand), Aug,/Sept. 2006
http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3459/features/6883/beyond_the_wire.html
Below are some excerpts on news aggregation services, source diversity, the Internet as "Old Media" and possible remedies to the problem.
Discuss!
Josh W.
Editor * Newsdesk.org
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Excerpts from: "News Agency Dominance in International News on the Internet"
By Chris Paterson, University of Leeds
http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/cicr/exhibits/42/cicrpaterson.pdf
= ON AGGREGATORS
"This period has seen the emergence of the news aggregation
industry and with it a somewhat disguised reliance on a surprisingly
limited set of news organisations, even as that industry offers
news consumers the illusion of information diversity and an endless
range of perspectives."
= ON DIVERSITY OF SOURCES & INFORMATION
"The Pew researchers argued, 'News organizations have made
news sites more attractive and rich with content in recent years.'
This paper counters that analyses of this sort are falling for a
conjurer's trick - being duped by more brand labels on the same
very limited news content."
= THE INTERNET AS "OLD MEDIA"
"The internet has fully transitioned into what we have traditionally
regarded as 'old media:' it is now, for most users, a mass medium
providing mostly illusory interactivity and mostly illusory diversity.
It is becoming a substantially tailored mass media product through
the personalisation of information delivery, but these phenomena
make it no less a form of mass media than would the insertion of
targeting advertising into a magazine delivered to someone's home.
Because resources are being devoted to endless distribution and
redistribution, Internet journalism will continue to grow thinner.
Given the massive explosion of distribution, there is surprisingly little
new original journalism within the mainstream (mass audience)
worldwide web."
= POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
"Predictions are dangerous, but it is not unreasonable to suppose
in the near term that the online news industry will try still harder to
disguise its dependence on limited sources through cosmetic changes,
the additional of minor editorial adjustments to agency stories (by
machine and human), and the addition of further bells and whistles
at news sites. They seek to distract readers from the essential
problem. But in the longer term the industry must invest in more
original reporting as an alternative to the few genuinely international
news organisations now on offer, and give more prominence to
buying, and properly translating, original non-English language reporting
from around the world. Without such change, new media will continue
to present to most users the dangerous illusion of multiple perspectives
which actually emanate from very few sources."
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Newsdesk.org
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