Comments on: Copy-paste journalism wants to be free

By: Melissa

Melissa — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 15:02:13 +0000

I think the problem revolves around the fact that people are trying to do too much in too little time. Hence spinning and copying of content without actually adding any value to the topic is all we are left with for majority of topics that are present, be it any kind of media. People need to realize that perspective, the fresh point of view makes things to turn into great from average and from insipid to engaging.

By: Information Wants to Be Free but You Better Be Expensive - How to Keep Journalism Profitable

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 01:55:36 +0000

[...] originally as “Copy-paste journalism wants to be free” at OJR.org March 2nd [...]

By: JanosT

JanosT — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:45:41 +0000

I think that the major problem lying behind this practice are those financial issues that editors have to face every month. Maintaining monthly editions is costly and editors rely mainly on big advertisers. In the situation where a good amount of content producers practice self-censorship to protect the financial interest of both the owners and the major advertisers of their publishing company, i think that is reasonable for them to completely rely on the “safe” press releases to fill up the pages.
And of course, there is also the issue of inexperienced, lazy or completely unresponsible ppl. who simply can’t or won’t put the required effort in the writing of an original article.

By: Dr. Mahmood Sakina

Dr. Mahmood Sakina — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 23:53:04 +0000

I agree with you absolutely. Thanks to a very great article.

By: Mark Schlack

Mark Schlack — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:19:23 +0000

I work in B2B journalism. I agree you with you about voice, but it is very clear in my field that for an event like CES, there are 100s of unreported stories. What at CES will change healthcare delivery (like tablets for doctors)? How will it impact mobile commerce? And so on. Take it a step further: rather than be part of the CES echo chamber, go talk to people who buy and use these things — do they work? do they do what they want them to? are they reliable? what do improvements do they want to see?

And, btw, if you do that kind of reporting consistently, whether for a general or niche audience, you’ll be in a much better position to have an opinion or a voice that anyone cares about.

Better to write 3 thoughtful stories than 5 copy-paste ones, IMO. As journalists, we should avoid commoditizing ourselves and our product.

By: M. Edward (Ed) Borasky (@znmeb)

M. Edward (Ed) Borasky (@znmeb) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:39:29 +0000

“who is the Andrew Sullivan or Kara Swisher of your newsroom?”

More to the point – Who is the Walter Cronkite of the Internet? Who is the Howard K. Smith of Twitter?

By: Benjamin A. Davis

Benjamin A. Davis — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:03:47 +0000

I would strongly suggest reading the suggested rules for cutting and pasting in The Digital Media Pyramid. http://digitalmediapyramid.wix.com/bendavis
Also, look at section dealing with media curation.

By: Rich Ullman

Rich Ullman — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:58:02 +0000

Nicely said.
This fits with my personal adage that, “News is a commodity. Perspective is not.” I agree that for journalist to create genuine value, they need to dig deeper and show their unique value that attracts the audience to them.
I’ve also always found Mr. Brand’s name to be ironic. Because as a marketer myself, this is what marketers have always tried to do to distinguish their brands: make them more valuable than the commodity.

By: Pekka Pekkala

Pekka Pekkala — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 01:26:07 +0000

Hi Brian,

and thank you for the comment.

I am painfully aware of the 4:1 ratio of PR people and journalists. Even worse, I see my very professional ex-colleagues moving to PR side of things. Better pay, job security and I am sure it is a challenging, fun job. But not journalism.

By: brian cohen

brian cohen — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 19:44:31 +0000

There’s nothing new about good journalists having to find the real news and report on it well. With the enormous financial cutbacks at major media companies the number of journalists have been reduced as well as their pay. This pressure has made many media properties simply churned content farms particularly when it comes to new product launches where they do not have the time and individual expertise to provide needed insight. You my have hear of http://churnalism.com – a British site that matches the original press release with the actual story.

I think the other bigger problem is that many good (customer need to know) stories are not being told because of the lack of writers and time. I suspect that most product introductions never really see the light of day and in a world of incredible innovation and creatively we cannot let this continue.

To be clear, I do not blame the journalists who find it very hard to get new jobs and pay their bills.

I believe the biggest trend you note is that (new product) information wants to free and with more direct to customer communication it will be – so long as it’s authentic and trusted – something that the Public Relations industry recognizes as the bedrock of their long-term professional value.

We are watching the beginning of PR Journalism. The tides have dramatically turned. There are now 4:1 PR professionals to journalists. The good news is many of these journalists have gone to the PR side to create quality content and keep an income.

You are right that maintaining quality readership will pressure media properties to distinguish themselves as deep and thoughtful thinkers. Their survival depends on it!