It seems ridiculously cyclical to be discussing a piece of writing on the internet about a piece of writing on the internet…with a piece of writing….on the internet…yet here I am. It is difficult for anyone involved in blogging, while maintaining an interest in the established media, not to comment on the internet manifesto, and Alison Gow does an excellent job of that. However, one thing she said really doesn’t sit right with me: “text is the least creative part of any news story”.
For me, that seems she is underestimating the importance of the text – and, for me, an ardent consumer of news my whole life – the text is key. I might spend a little while flicking through some pretty pictures on a blog, but what really draws me back to a blog again and again – as with a newspaper, or a magazine – is the quality of the writing. I would never say that journalists shouldn’t look for ways to improve their storytelling, in fact, I think the opposite. But we shouldn’t get so het up with trying to embrace the future that we for one second forget what has made journalism great in the past, and always will in the future, is great writing.
I have a ridiculously short internet-attention-span, as I’m sure many others do. When I’m reading news or features online, I rarely click on the video or audio attachments – I just want to consume what I’m reading as quickly as possible and move on. I’m sure this isn’t true for everyone, but for me the appendages don’t fit naturally with the consumption of a story. Many other features of online journalism really do appeal to me, such as the ability to map stories and use other interactions to illustrate a point, or encourage the reader to explore information on their own. Simply tacking items more at home on broadcast media onto a website I find is really under-using the ability of the internet to communicate information. This is natural though – we do what we know. It’s as obvious as making a great book into an average film. The internet has much more to offer. But despite all this, text still reigns supreme.
Having said that, there’s a lot to proud of with internet journalism this week – it should inspire everyone that the might of the notorious Carter-Ruck law firm can be taken on by a few ‘ordinary’ people with Twitter accounts. Maybe the internet manifesto was right about that, but let us not forget that it couldn’t have been done without brilliant journalism, paid for by The Guardian.
