To: online-news@marketplace.com

Subject: Individual vs newspaper/news service

From: "Bill Prater"

Date: Thu, 24 Feb 94 11:12:01 MST

Subject: Individual vs newspaper/news service
From: "Bill Prater" 
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 94 11:12:01 MST
How the Web Was Won
Subject: Individual vs newspaper/news service
From: "Bill Prater" 
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 94 11:12:01 MST

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Further the discussion of independent freelancers operating
on the Internet, vs future versions of newspapers or wire services,
let me add the perspective of a former AP and
newspaper reporter now in corporate
public relations -- primarily internal employee communications.
Knowledge about the source is paramount, even more than the need
for an editor (or research librarian)
to cut through masses of competing information.
So while it's true some writers may be known well enough for their
name to suffice as an online credential, I doubt
this will work for newcomers seeking a niche.

As always with the introduction of new information technologies,
history seems bound to repeat itself:  An obvious example, the AP and
other wire services were established in large part because
owners of large newspapers needed to be able to trust their sources of
news from afar.  For NEWS, as opposed to entertainment
or editorial comment, I think we're going to
sign up for services like Ziff-Davis and Reuters because
even the legitimacy of photographs is suspect these
days.  We will trust or at least accept the eventual
electronic versions of the NY Times, Time magazine
and Boulder Daily Camera because we know a professional is working
somewhere, exercising editorial judgment.  We might
draw on the specialized contributions of individual freelancers
on specialized topics, but I suspect that will only be
when know them as individuals or the need for information
outweighs our skepticism.

In IBM we have literally thousands of unedited or
restricted electronic forums, much like this
one, on a bewildering variety of topics. We have only a few DOZEN
that are truly electronic news categories -- edited
for accuracy, style and tone. These are management-controlled,
of course, and subject to the same skepticism employees will
probably always view news from the top. But there is
no question where the information is coming from -- or that some of
it (product announcements, reorganizations, etc)
is essential for job success in a very complicated
environment.

Bill Prater/representing his opinions only as his own
IBM Boulder Communications Programs Manager


From jvncnet!netcom.com!outings Fri Feb 25 08:33:33 1994