News & Columns > Dave Henderson > News in the 21st Century

News in the 21st Century

By Dave Henderson
Friday, July 11, 2008

It is the 21st century. The news media is struggling to adapt to a changing world. The world of news reporting has evolved from print news published once a month or week to real-time instant news.

Television came into our lives in the 1950s and with that nightly news on one of three channels NBC, CBS, or ABC who told us of the world's events. We grew up with Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, and David Brinkley. This began a revolution in the delivery of news to the populace. Slowly news became part of our daily life. With the advent of cable TV, the 24-hour news cycle was born.

With the immense competition in the news world, many newspapers are folding or downsizing as their readers demand news as it happens. Weekly and daily newspapers are now just that — week or day old information. Large news outlets have been purchased by other agencies and the consumer is left with only the news that a few large companies feel fit to distribute often with their political bias thrown in.

The press is also struggling with its own self-identity. Many journalists have lost what is important and newsworthy — along with their credibility. I cringe every time I see a journalist stick a microphone in the face of a grieving mother who just lost a child and asks, "Please tell us how you feel." Many journalists have lost track of what is news. Some have even gone as far as to try to manufacture their own news to influence major events.

What is news? By definition, news is "new information about specific and timely events." Newsworthiness is "the quality of being sufficiently interesting to be reported in news bulletins."

KABC channel 7 routinely reports the result of their network's television show, "Dancing with the Stars" in their news broadcasts as "news." I contend that that is not news at all. It is nothing more than self-promotion masked as "news."

Is the latest escapade of Brittany Spears really news?

The Rise of Real-Time News

With the rise of the internet in the 90s, it was not long before a new breed of journalists would appear. This is the foundation of RIMOFTHEWORLD.net.

During the recent wildfires of 2007, the major TV stations would break from the true news that mattered to tens of thousands of people and return to normal programming and air soap operas. People affected by these types of events need and want accurate information about what affects them when they want it, not when the network airs its nightly news. That need does not go away after the news broadcast is over.

And even when their reporters were covering the news, they often do not know where they are and lack local knowledge.

This is where RIMOFTHEWORLD.net has a made an impact in how disasters are covered. We try to bring our readers the news in an unbiased way. No hype. No sensationalism. Just the news that matters to those we serve. News for the local audience by locals. Reported by those who have intimate local knowledge.

RIMOFTHEWORLD.net is undergoing many growing pains. We are trying to learn and adapt to this ever-changing world and we face many obstacles in the future. Our primary mission is to provide real-time news and information as it happens. We often hear "we heard the helicopter and jumped on ROTW and there the information was." That is not a coincidence. There is a lot of hard work and effort that goes into making that happen.

Real-time news is the future. We feel that RIMOFTHEWORLD.net is something special. We can make an impact on how emergency information is distributed in the future. Because of this, we have abandoned some projects started in the past. We must focus on what we do best and what will keep us in business and able to serve the communities.

In July, RIMOFTHEWORLD.net will address the 33rd Annual Natural Hazards Conference in Boulder, Colorado. "We envision that you will be able to provide a grassroots perspective as well as comment on the interplay between citizen journalism and the balance with 'official news sources' during the recent fires," wrote Jeannette Sutton, Ph.D. from the Natural Hazards Center.

While recognizing our accomplishments, in many ways, the quote above highlights the challenge that we face. There is a perception that what we do is somehow not "official news." What is official news? Is it news deemed appropriate by some government agency? Is it news that some large corporation deems fit for you to read? The question for the future is what makes a "News Source"? Is it the quality of the news or is it the agency that approves or delivers it?

Ultimately, it is the readers who will decide what is news and who will deliver it to them. They have the ultimate right of veto.

We believe this conference will open new doors for RIMOFTHEWORLD.net. It will change how emergencies and disasters are covered in the future — not just here in our mountains, but in other locations around the country. Who knows – maybe even the world!

This article was first published on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 12:00 am. This article has been viewed 666 times.

Dave Henderson is the Vice-President of Operations for RIMOFTHEWORLD.net and it's parent company Vicinitas, LLC. Dave is the commercial and operational manager for the site.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of RIMOFTHEWORLD.net. This column is copyrighted by Dave Henderson.