Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Content, Comments and Crowds: Changing the News Release
Social media commenting on, or the ability of the public to interact with, news releases will impact the natural history of news, especially the natural history of the news release. Commenting on news releases is new; in fact it has not been done yet.
Back in the day, news releases were invisible to the end users of news and journalists never cited them as a source. News releases are a surrogate source or an extension of the source, and their public visibility has brought a new level of transparency to the news process. The source is no longer a mystery.
News releases have been visible by the public for the last 18 years since Newswise introduced the first online news release distribution service in 1992. Although Newswise was designed primarily to serve journalists and continues to do that, the phenomenon of the online, or publicly visible, news release has changed the natural history of how news is developed and evolves. In the past, the life cycle of a news release depended completely on journalists’ writing about the news release, thereby completing its news potential. Now a larger audience can give life to a news release beyond what happens in the news media.
Commenting adds a new opportunity for transparency and for public participation in the news process. To the extent that news releases are well done, that is, good reporting, they should be acknowledged as part of the natural history of news, and for that process to be transparent. What does commenting add to the news process? Public participation, especially by knowledge workers and thought leaders, can enhance the news process by creating new outcomes. Comments can add information, story lines and context, such as revealing public interest in a story, which journalists might use when appropriate. Commenting is one of the basic building blocks of creating community.
Reporters can benefit from commenting by others and also by commenting themselves. For example, by linking to the news articles they write, readers can track further development of the story, and Newswise can drive traffic to reporters’ websites.
Newswise provides more comprehensive content that many readers find a valuable source of news. Newswise is committed to increase the value of news releases for journalists, and while we do not claim that news releases are journalism, we believe there is something unique and valuable about the news releases found on Newswise because of our community of contributors and the credibility of our content. Our readers say so, and journalists substantiate this by using our service as a source.
What do you think about commenting on, or public participation with, news releases? Some people believe the commenting is more important than the content. See: http://www.wordspring.ca/2010/07/why-conversation-not-content-is-king/. How do you anticipate commenting or social media participation will impact the value of a news story, the news process, or the life of news releases?
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