The (hopefully) new journalism

This post is in response to an extended sort-of-conversation I've been having with some peeps about where journalism is headed. Its also in response, sort of, to an article listed below.

If you'll indulge me (always dangerous), here's what I think. I find the current trend of newspapers closing foreign bureaus really unfortunate for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that there is something to be said for posting a journalist somewhere and letting him/her learn the ins and outs of an area. I've met a couple freelancers here, and all of them fly in, shoot or write the story and fly out. I understand financially why newspapers have to do this, but I feel like the quality of journalism suffers.

Having been here for 2 months now, I'm still learning new idiosyncrasies about the country that would have been way over my head if I were here for a week, there for a week and so on. Plus, with a new trend in foreign correspondents' writings of being read and seen by those being reported on, instead of just for, there is a burgeoning population of people who can and will call the journalist out on missing those undercurrents.

I think the current model of newspaper journalism is broken-I think newspapers are woefully behind creating adequate web content, and are making decisions that might now ensure financial solvency but are rapidly making them obsolete as purveyors of information.

Related tangent-Part of what I'm doing while I'm here is working with a collaboration between 2 NGOs that are trying to capitalize on the enormous penetration of cell phones here, and to utilize that for enhanced community outreach and input from the people they serve. I'm doing a lot of research about the myriad of applications being developed for grassroots organization and mobilisation, using the cell phone as the base. Somewhere there is the key-all these applications are horizontally and vertically scalable, and I feel like there is massive potential for this same idea being applied to the current journalism industry.

Ultimately, journalists are in the business of information. Demand is increasing, but our lack of understanding of how to obtain revenue from this huge new market of consumers is not. The more research I do, and the more I see how plugged in people here are, in ways that the West has no idea, the more I think the answer is here.

Sorry for the rant. I am really excited about all of the things going on around me here, and I'd love to hear your take on them. All I have now are these ideas, but I can feel them coalescing on the horizon.

Also, to prep you for some talks about my research, check out FrontlineSMS and if you haven't yet, Ushahidi and more specifically here, which is where what I'm working on will be posted.

More on the promised topics later.