As the news turns

Hydrangeas against rail, originally uploaded by The River Thief. Copyright Ruth Seeley 2008

I do wonder why a study would be released on a Sunday and whether the implication is that we can all read it today and get a jumpstart on next week's work - that does seem a little cruel.

But it looks like there's some interesting stuff in the Project for Excellence in Journalism's annual State of the News Media report as synopsized by Wired's online news site:
http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/S/STATE_OF_JOURNALISM?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-16-16-32-59

The full report is available here:

http://www.stateofthenewsmedia.org/2008/

I confess I haven't read it in its entirety yet. That will require a cup of coffee, as I wrap my head around the fact that without the war in Iraq and the election, there would be 25 per cent less news in the U.S. (ok I realize that's not what the report says, that's my somewhat cynical tweak on it). I do hope the report gives us a ranking of Britney stories because I'm pretty sure that even though I've assiduously tried to avoid them, I probably read more news items about Britney Spears in 2007 than I did about the US election and the war in Iraq combined.

Also surprising is the assertion that blogs and citizen journalism sites aren't as welcoming of commentary as traditional news media sites. You mean the experts got something right? ;)

What's encouraging though - or what I take to be encouraging from the synopsis - is the notion that print is following broadcast media's lead - by accepting that stories are fluid and require frequent updates, regardless of printing deadlines. What's also encouraging is that a newspaper article is now being seen as an investigative starting point rather than the last word. This can only mean good things for notions like objective and balanced reporting or a clear statement of bias.