I enjoyed an article from Jeff Jarvis at Medium about a role Google could play in the future of news. I especially love this quote from Jarvis:
In Geeks, I argue that news organizations must shift from thinking of themselves as content factories serving mass audiences to understanding that journalism is a service to individuals and communities.
The whole article is well worth reading by those who cherish news and the role easy access to independent news and analysis plays in democratic society.
I suspect many 9in existing news organisations are not thinking along the same lines as jarvis – based on the actions they are taking.
Anyone who, like Jarvis, has had Prostate cancer operated on by robotic surgery must be worth giving a few minutes to look at what he thinks about the future of news.
As an individual, I much prefer to pick and choose what I read rather than be served up with what someone else or something thinks I want to read after spying on what I have looked at on-line.
At the end of the day, whatever is created, I’m not so certain I would trust Google anymore than I would a group of people in England who thought it ok to hack into and alter mobile phones.
Jarvis has a lot of good thoughts on directions news might take in the future – I guess as long as we can still pick and choose what to read then it won’t worry me too much. From that perspective nothing will change except the delivery method.
Dennis I agree – choosing what I want to read is essential.