James Norton
Stop the (Virtual) Presses
Can you trust the news?
It's a question that's more complicated than it may initially seem. What kind of news are we talking about? Who is producing it? How timely is it?
If the number of variables is any indicator of how hard it is to answer a question, than this next one may be trickier still:
Can you trust the news ... on the Web?
As the big engines of journalism have roared into cyberspace the past few years, the question of standards has become increasingly important. More and more Americans are getting their news from the Web, and the pressure to compete is pushing editors and publishers to integrate the Web into their traditional methods for producing the news.
The Web offers some tempting benefits: unlimited space, 24-hour-a-day access, and great story depth. But it's equally clear that the Internet brings with it a host of pitfalls and caveats for readers and journalists alike.
Hoag Levins is the executive editor of APBnews.com, one of the Internet's largest crime news-related Web sites, and a former executive editor of Editor & Publisher magazine. As a traditional print journalist who has made the leap entirely into cyberspace, Mr. Levins is in a good position to see some of the problems associated with news coverage on the Web - and some of the benefits.
Levins says one of the most pressing problems is the acceleration of the news cycle. While the Web's speed can often be a blessing for a publication hoping to break a story quickly, it can also push it into a new, high-pressure 24-hour cycle.
When the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke and evolved in the American media, online rumors and Internet journalists such as Matt Drudge fueled the demand for information that was up-to-the-minute and sensational. At times, coverage was driven more by a desire to scoop the competition than to report accurately and fairly, Levins says.
"Editors in traditional newspapers began to feel pressure and began to make sometimes flawed news judgments while looking over their shoulder at the Internet," Levins says. "The Monica Lewinsky scandal put it over the edge. Suddenly there was another outlet that tens of millions of Americans were running to, and they were judging the TV and newspapers against it."
Matthew T. Felling is the media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs, and plays a major role in newswatch.org, an online publication that examines news coverage for fairness and accuracy issues. He also sees the "scoop factor" as one of the big caveats in online coverage.
"The problem occurs when this immediacy compromises journalistic standards - sloping as they are - and results in incorrect or incomplete story-telling," says Mr. Felling. "The temptation has always been out there to scoop others, but now it has been enormously magnified."
Other commentators point to the lack of experience in traditional journalistic standards amongst Web journalists and production staffs.
"There's typically a mismatch between the experience level in print and on the Web, a mismatch that dotcoms are trying to overcome by raiding traditional news media - and are having some success doing," says John Russial, an associate professor of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon.
Russial, who teaches a class on cyberjournalism, says "I feel the inexperience problem is a downside often lost in the excitement of the rush to hire Web expertise without traditional journalism experience. Can all those folks who are getting stock options spell?"
There's no question that traditional media organizations will need to proceed cautiously and thoughtfully into the realm of online journalism. At the same time, purely Web-based news sites have a responsibility to learn about traditional journalistic standards - and why they're so critical to building the mainstay of any reliable, stable news operation: a trusting audience.
"Ultimately, audiences and advertisers will always be drawn to the most credible journalistic operations, to the companies that are accurate, credible, and trustworthy," says APBnews's Hoag Levins. "First you'll see the Internet intersect almost totally with television, and TV/Internet will become the mass media. The giants in this industry will be operated according to standard journalistic practices, and the public will be well served by that."
Like every tool, the Web has its limitations. The pressures to publish first and attract new readers will be ever-present in the world of journalism, and will always result in some stories being published too soon, or in a format that is sensationalistic or incomplete.
Will this gap ever be overcome? Again, the answer is yes - if responsible media organizations are vigilant about applying traditional standards to the nontraditional world of online media.
The Web offers us content that is broader, deeper and more engaging than anything we've seen before. Traditional journalism offers us ethics and methods that give us news we can trust.
When the two worlds are finally brought together, news will take a quantum leap forward.