Page B16

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Media Convergence

By Arlon Staywell
RICHMOND — Please consider the following recommendations for reading the news.  There have been many changes in the industry.  There are constant changes in equipment.  There are changes in broadcasting and publishing as well as the internet.
ISPs are not news sources
    If you get your "news" from your internet service provider for example by using their "homepage" to keep you informed, please consider that they are not really professional news sources. They are generally communications equipment technicians, but that is not the same degree program by any stretch.  Although it is safe to assume that AT&T for example uses some people with actual news training to compose or at least layout the news on their homepages, they probably still get news second hand.  Although real news organizations have commentators whose analysis is considered important, no one knows any "AT&T news" commentator or wonders what she or he thinks.  There are no serious "AOL news" commentators either.  Generally ISPs are means to connect to the news, but "writing" first hand news and analysis is not their forte.
Widespread Misperception
    A common belief is that internet news must be better than other news because it can be more immediate.  An internet page from 9:58 in the morning can be updated at 9:59 easily, while television news will likely have to wait till noon, and newspapers for the following morning.  In actual practice the immediacy of the internet is generally no value at all for two important reasons.  First of all, few people have the time to sit in front of a page waiting for it to change.  Secondly, real news needs to be checked for background and facts.  While it is possible for a change to happen in mere moments, for example the second tower of the World Trade Center getting hit, in most cases that never happens in a way that can be immediately reported.  And those best informed about the World Trade Center were likely watching television since the morning news often goes through the nine o'clock hour.  That was an exception, usually the newspaper has the better coverage.  A typical thirty minute news broadcast if typed out would fill half of one page of a newspaper.
New Computer Business Model
    In the early days of AOL they would put a "progress bar" on your screen and tell you they were updating your AOL software.  While not a bad idea in theory, in actual practice they did that every day or two.  Common sense should tell you that if it wasn't good yesterday, its chances today aren't much better.  And lo and behold the next two days would bear that out!  Which is probably one reason AOL isn't doing so well now.  People wise up eventually.  It was another misunderstanding of the importance of immediacy to computers and the internet.  They thought that was their strong suit.  It wasn't and still isn't quite.
    Then the backward business model worked and to some extent it still does today.  The worse the computers perform the more people spend.  While people are getting wiser one exceptional holdout is virus protection. Although it obviously isn't any good, people keep buying it more and more, even today. Why can't there be a computer that cannot catch viruses? A sensible alternative is to regularly make copies of work, especially if there is a large quantity of it, and store it away. If you get a virus just wipe the hard drive clean and start over. Or move to another computer. If you find the virus is on your backup also, use an earlier one or use a form of storage that is virus proof, that is outside the realm of computers altogether. Software that works without the constant need of updates can include firewalls and removers of tracking cookies and "most recently used" lists, although those still generally follow the backward business model too. The new computer business model should be that if it doesn't work well, quit buying it.
Life cycle of real news
    So in the overwhelming majority of cases the immediacy of computers and the interent is a liability, not an asset.  A typical news story has a life cycle of several days, and new details usually take a few days.  And while there generally are quite many news stories every day, there are ways the computer can help and ways it can hurt.  It hurts when it multiplies the volume without adding to the substance, which it is obviously prone to do.  The television news is already repetitive enough without making that worse.
    Although you might help your children by forcing them to read a news page from their internet service provider before they read their email, as adults you should read actual sources of news.  You can create your own links to the London Times, the New York Times, your local newspaper if different, the local paper of your relatives and various broadcaster's websites, and of course The Richmond Political Buzz Examiner on Examiner.com and The Town Voice.  If you want unchallenged news you can go the government's and politician's own websites.  If it's about California Governor Schwarzenegger you might check the Los Angeles Times also.  You can follow talk radio on the internet.  You can keep them in your bookmarks or favorites or create your own web page on local disc with neatly organized links to professionally covered news.  That way you can copy that webpage to other computers you might use in the library for example.  You can find a basic ISP that won't bother you with ads and second hand news and constant changes to their software.
No EBS on the internet
    There is still no service comparable to the Emergency Broadcasting System on the internet whereby you can be notified of tornados for example.  You can have "immediate" messages, but it must ultimately come from some non-internet source.  Media convergence is coming, but hasn't advanced that far.  Not yet.
    Your best use of the internet for news is as a magazine with links to writers who write only when they have something to add, something you didn't see on TV or radio, some perspective or insight broadcasters missed, or perhaps deliberately avoided.  And do avoid writers who try to be immediate for immediacy's sake.  Don't get caught up in the new garbage everyday frenzy.  It is a typical computer waste of time.

© MMX by Arlon Ryan Staywell

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