Are you voting for the news with every click you make?
Many years ago I remember asking a newspaper representative if they were concerned about news stories being voted on by tracking clicks. The person was perplexed at my question – and stated that their paper was not that sophisticated (this being one of Canada’s largest papers). But that question of the citizen deciding what gets reported has lingered in the back of my mind for several years now.
It wasn’t too long ago that the only way for a tv station or newspaper to know what stories mattered only by looking at ratings, focus groups or subscriptions. It was a lot of guessing was involved. But now an online edition of a paper can tell editors down to the second the amount of time your spending on a news story. They know what stories you read, and what you don’t.
Factor in “rate this story”, “share this story” and “comments” – the citizen is now telling news organizations what they’re interested in creating a full circle feedback loop. Now the paper reflects what people want to hear.
Clearly the danger is that less popular stories – the early Watergate stories could be dropped and never persued if everything is a ratings game. But the upside is the average citizen can now have a say in what they hear.
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