What should the press be doing to avoid information overload while satisfying consumption demands?

In a rush to respond to current technological advancements in the delivery of content, print and TV news is succumbing to the “bandwagon effect” of using the internet to deliver content via video, podcasting, blogging—well, the entire spectrum of social networking. Maybe instead of riding the bandwagon they should be leading the way in providing information in a way that provides context and meaning for the consumer.

The issue isn’t the survival of journalism. It’ll survive. Maybe not in the format that we know today, but it’ll survive. The evolutionary process will continue and we will have this thing called journalism. It’s strong enough to survive as story telling form.
The issue may well be will it thrive.

Take, for example, The Huffington Post. By all accounts, accepted by many as a form of today’s journalism. Are they prototype for the model of journalism that will thrive? Today the have raised $25 million of the $100 million in their fundraising plan. Today with their aggregate news blog they, as an institution, are bigger than Lee Enterprises and Media General and are almost as large as McClatchy. (The Rash Report: WCCO Report: 12-2-2008) What are they doing to avoid information overload to satisfy consumer demands? Through building community they are able to sell ads. Is that the solution?

In my final paper I’ll reflect on what the press, print and TV, can do to provide news to consumers that satisfies their desires without providing so much or in such a way that it turns consumers off!