April 26, 2005

The Future of News

What's the future of news? Via a link on Rexblog, I learn that it is "mobile, immediate, visual, interactive, participatory and trusted." In fact, says a new briefing from the Media Center at the American Press Institute, "Make way for a generation of storytellers who totally get it."

The Media Center's new briefing "summarizes key findings from Media, Technology and Society, a multi-disciplinary research project on the media landscape conducted for professionals engaged in strategies, research, thinking, education, policy and philanthropy related to the future of journalism and media. It is fascinating.

The report doesn't use the word "blog," but it might as well have, given this forecast:

Consumers become the important storytellers of the era. They trust each other. They become self-reliant on the stories they create, skeptical of the stories created by "trusted brands" or "trusted institutions." Although passive consumption of news will continue, new forms of interaction will emerge. Even traditional consumers will find ways to make content more meaningful.

The Content Generation creates, produces, participates and shares news and information in the connected society. It captures life as it happens on digital cameras - currently more than 250 million, by 2008 an estimated 400 million on mobile phones. Content spreads through global networks that allow anyone to post news, thoughts, ideas, and images on the web.

A conversation, not a lecture. Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah. At the bottom of this post.

UPDATE: The Cincinnati Enquirer has a job opening for a journalist who gets it.