Vanishing Point theory of news
Chris Anderson posits his Vanishing Point theory of news, which is correct, I think, but misses one point: community is more than geographically based.
There's nothing new about this (it's a truism of the American newsroom that Paris, Texas counts for more than Paris, France), but it bears repeating. The future of media is to stop boring us with news that doesn't relate to our lives. I'll start reading my "local" newspaper again when it covers my block.
I'm with him on the "boring" part. But I'm not sure that Paris, Texas, does count more than Paris, France, to those of us in North Carolina. I suspect more people have been to the Paris in France and have more of a connection to it.
In any case, with the stew of cultures, nationalities and people "not from here," there seems to be a higher than normal interest in news beyond the block. That's what I hear from people who want less from the neighborhood and more on Congress or what's happening overseas. At any given time, community may mean the neighborhood or your family back in Oklahoma or your friends from college who live all over the country.
Terry Heaton also makes a good point. To be the purveyor of hyperlocal news is a good thing, but our mission is more than simply providing information to smaller masses based on geography. Type of information that goes there is important, but our job is also about relating broader picture matters to the smaller groups as well.
Comments (3)
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"That's what I hear from people who want less from the neighborhood and more on Congress or what's happening overseas."
Do these people not own televisions?? There's no less than six 24/7 TV news networks that bring us nothing but news on congress and the overseas arena. Anything about yesterdays Congressional activities in a morning newspaper is very old news to the rest of the world.
Posted on January 19, 2007 11:08 AM
You're right, jaycee. And we've moved away from that, at least with our front page. What we try to do and need to do better is to link Congress and world events back to the Triad.
Posted on January 19, 2007 11:13 AM
Most likely you will ignore this comment, but here goes: Newspapers (and organizations/institutions) these days seem to be missing the point of "local". Local is not all about geography. Stories here there and everywhere can resonate with "local" readers . . . even if they are hundreds of miles apart. The obvious (more sensationalistic) ones are about kidnapped boys being rescued - or a little girl dying viciously at the hands of her father.
But there are other stories out there, bubbling just under the surface . . . everyday stuff that that is relevant to the way we lives our lives, or do our jobs, or govern that are not getting their due. The way your newspaper has treated me is one such example. For almost two years, in one fashion or another, you've said my story is not relevant or newsworthy to your print readers. Geographically speaking that's not so. And as more and more headlines tweak out from other places, it's being proved to be not so. I posted on a situation in Beesville, Texas very relevant to my own. My website cites stories very similar to mine. Then there's perjury and DA's who will not play fair.
Something occurred to me this morning as I read Joe Guarino's latest post on the Rhino's coverage of the GPD mess (I can't make it link). No doubt one of your excuses in my case is that the Randolph Hospital executives who did all the lying will have "no comment". It did not stop you when you printed stories about David Wray he would not comment on.
Where my "local girl endures medicolegal clusterscrew" story is concerned, you continue to look the other way. Yet here you are, talking about "the Vanishing Point" theory of news when you won't cover what's in your own back yard.
Posted on January 19, 2007 11:58 AM