Two very interesting articles crossed my desktop this week.  Reading them within hours of each other left me head-scratching.

The first was from the Fall 2010 Preview issue of American Journalism Review, titled “Traffic Problems.”  The article summarizes how the ability to track the popularity of specific online articles affects a newsroom’s future focus.  Key callouts:

 High-minded headlines and stories about foreign wars, the federal deficit or environmental despoilage might have paid the bills in the age of Murrow and Cronkite, but they only go so far these days.  Shark videos and “naked Lady Gaga” headlines get major play on “serious” news sites for an obvious and no longer terribly shocking reason: They draw traffic….

“Journalism always put a premium on speed and scoops, but up until recently we never had to make the decision that speed trumps vetting or verification,” observes my colleague Roxanne Roberts. “That dynamic is shifting because of the need for hits. It’s a very slippery slope from an ethical standpoint….”

While there are consequences for being slow, there aren’t many consequences for being wrong, Roberts says: “The feeling nowadays is, ‘we don’t make mistakes, we just make updates.'” By trying to grab traffic at all costs, “We’ve placed the premium not on being correct or thoughtful, but on being first. When you do that, everything is Balloon Boy….”

Continue reading Lady Gaga journalism and the reputation economy →