"Bifurcation" of the News: A Perfect Storm?

Good Sunday morning...

I missed it, but this past week the AP sparked a debate about who pays for news, and as a freelance reporter this hit home, especially as I watched a story I reported for NPR hit the internet and then get picked up by NECN... and so on.

Case in point: if people can get their news for free, how long will they continue to pay for it?

This article on the Wired blog discusses the consequences for people like me of what it calls "the bifurcation of publishing and news-gathering". In other words, I gathered the news and it was published by NPR, thereby fanning out to NPR's member stations around the country, people's blogs, and so on.

There might be "a hidden subsidy" for NPR as all these outlets redirect traffic to my story on NPR.org, but there is no further compensation coming to me.

Blogs (including mine) play an increasing role in disseminating news, but I agree with Wired that they also pose a threat to the enterprise of journalism, especially public radio and its listener-dependent business model. How long will we keep meeting our goals during on-air fundraisers with the argument that we can't do what we do without "you, our listeners"?!

If/when people stop buying that, who is going to pay the bills, and in turn, compensate me for my hard work as a reporter?

Maybe Wired's John Abell is right in saying, "There is a storm coming. It just might be The Perfect Storm."

Misogyny and the Media

It's the morning after Hillary Clinton suspended/ended her historic bid for the presidency, and as a woman and a member of "the media" I am compelled to look back on many months of election coverage and consider allegations that misogyny toward her candidacy was perpetuated by the press.

I was prepared to expound on the subject today but I've come across the following Letter to the Editor in today's Boston Globe, which I feel is a concise, articulate and powerful missive that couldn't be better put:

Assessing sexism

In response to Brendan Diamond's letter to the editor ("Charges of sexism sound like a whine," June 2), in which he reacted to Geraldine Ferraro's May 30 op-ed: The issue isn't a comparison of racism vs. sexism as much as it is about the responses to those attitudes. Sexism isn't the outright cause of Hillary Clinton's loss to Barack Obama, but to ignore it as a contributing factor is to be ignorant. Sexism is more subtle than racism.

The media and general public have nearly zero tolerance for racism, but sexism is laughed off or ignored. "Iron My Shirt" is funny, but you had better believe "Shine My Shoes" would be outrageous - when both should be repudiated.

Plenty of voters may simply like Obama more than Clinton, but many others have been vocal about how Clinton reminds them of their mothers, and that is why they aren't voting for her. That is misogynistic and sexist - and short-sighted, because no doubt they didn't become the great people they think they are without their mothers.

There is sexism everywhere - in the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and across America. Only a fool would suggest otherwise. CAROLINE CONWAY, Boston

Much food for thought here, I think.

Should this reporter blog?

A veteran foreign correspondent-turned-web-guru told me yesterday that he thinks I should be writing a blog. He said there's no reason not to; a lot of reporters are doing it.

Typically I don't put myself into my stories, so it's not an intuitive thing to register my reflections as I'm reporting. Still, if those reflections might interest people and enlighten some on the process by which your news is compiled and produced, to that end I'm interested in giving it a shot.

I'm on deadline today, though, so a lengthier entry will have to wait.

Until then...