According to the Pulitzer Prizes’ website, “The iconic Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal is
awarded each year to the American newspaper that wins the Public Service
category.” In 2009, Pulitzer began considering internet based sources as well. This year, the winner of the
National Reporting category was David Wood, writer at the Huffington Post blog,
for his series
on wounded soldiers.
So just to recap, a blog was awarded the most esteemed honor
in journalism.
 |
| Writer Ben Schwartz asks a legitimate question. |
If you are unfamiliar with the Huffington Post (aka
HuffPo) I encourage you to take a
moment and peruse the site. You will notice that its pages link to
thousands of different stories written by hundreds of different contributors
broken into dozens of categories. These
categories include: Politics, Comedy, Gay Voices, Culture, Weird News, and
Tech. This is hardly what one thinks
about when considering a newspaper that performs a public service.
However, as ICT has change the way news is created and
consumed, a blog with endless reach, topics, and contributors is considered on
par with news outlets known for journalistic integrity.
The three aforementioned categories are indicative of the
changes ICT has made on the news industry.
First, is the wide reach of the blog. Last December it totaled around 1 billion unique visits. With this many people reading HuffPo's contents, something is bound to have an impact with someone, right?
Second, is the myriad of topics. In the “blogosphere”, endless topics can be covered with little to no concern over a word count or page space. This provides flexibility for a 10-part series like the one that won David Wood and HuffPo a Pulitzer. It also attracts a wide swath of readers by allowing a blog to not get pigeon holed as covering too narrow a scope, i.e. The Financial Times.
Lastly, and in my opinion most concerning, is the amount of contributors. The content providers of this blog are not necessarily professional journalists, authors, columnists, or editors, but they are just people with opinions. Sometime informed and sometimes not. ICT has reduced the reliance on editors, and therefore, accountability.
First, is the wide reach of the blog. Last December it totaled around 1 billion unique visits. With this many people reading HuffPo's contents, something is bound to have an impact with someone, right?
Second, is the myriad of topics. In the “blogosphere”, endless topics can be covered with little to no concern over a word count or page space. This provides flexibility for a 10-part series like the one that won David Wood and HuffPo a Pulitzer. It also attracts a wide swath of readers by allowing a blog to not get pigeon holed as covering too narrow a scope, i.e. The Financial Times.
Lastly, and in my opinion most concerning, is the amount of contributors. The content providers of this blog are not necessarily professional journalists, authors, columnists, or editors, but they are just people with opinions. Sometime informed and sometimes not. ICT has reduced the reliance on editors, and therefore, accountability.
So to answer Ben Schwartz tweet, yes, the HuffPo really did win a Pulitzer. Regardless of how many uninformed opinions there are in the “blogosphere”, and there are a lot, very well informed and insightful opinions also exist. I suppose it is time to recognize this fact and to celebrate the news ICT evolution with the Huffington Post and a case of Natural Light.
No comments:
Post a Comment