Cory Doctorow wonders out loud whether Reuters’ decision to cut 3,000 jobs is in any way a result of the disintermediation effect of the blogosphere. I’m inspired to wonder a little further out…
The evolution of the modern journalist [don't snicker, that'd be rude] had long been toward an unbiased, dispassionate recording of events: who, what, when and where. At some point in the not terribly distant past, this grew to include interpretations of why, and speculation on what it all means. Our dispassionate observer became involved in the event; a hollow, shadow-participant… and then only until a bigger and better event came along.
Enter the amateur journalist… better still, millions of them. No casual observers here, these are folk who recount with vibrancy and passion – and often surprising clarity – events in which they are fully engaged. Bias doesn’t much matter, as another point of view is only a click away, found on the blog of yet another fully-involved party.
Me, I think we’re seeing journalism redefined by a new medium… yet another step in the curious evolution of journalism.
