MSM still main source
Michael Silence of No Silence Here has a post up based on a post by Bull Moose up that discusses how the main stream media is still the main source for many for breaking news. Micheal’s Full Post Here in
To me that was not a surprise. Blogs tend to provide detail and context to stories, but are not USUALLY set up to handle real time and fluid situations as well and as quickly as other forms of broadcast media- specifically TV and radio.
Blogs, web sites, and even printed newspapers have no really effective way to provide real time information as quickly as TV and radio can. What they all provide is detail and specific context.
Of course, there is also the issue of tools and resources. Blogs are typically one or two people, not a team of people with high tech cameras, real time radars, etc. Bloggers may occassionally find themselves s in the midst of or adjacent too a news story. Then they can be incredibly real time and provide breaking news - if they have their laptop and wi-fi is near by, but most of the time bloggers are more compilers and editors and commentators then news breaking reporters. That is not a knock on blogging either as people need those things after they get the base story.
There is also the need for a internet connection to access blogs / web sites and even breaking news paper stories online. Yes wireless and wi-fi is becoming more common but it is still not as common and powerfully broadcast as radio and local TV. Both of those are accessible without wires in a far wider range and with far more power then the wireless Internet. Even TV loses a great amount of it’s easy / portable accessibility to radio when the size of the receiver and the typical need for permeant power (yes I know there are battery operated TV’s but they are not common) is considered.
So, to me it not a surprise at all that people go to and depend on the MSM for breaking news. If they did NOT it would be more surprising to me. The simple / installed infrastructure which allows people to instantly and virtually boundlessly access the MSM, when combined with the technology and manpower that is geared to breaking news, means most will go to them before firing up the computer to see “the rest of the story”.
I personally think the real trend is for people to see / hear the base / breaking story from the MSM and then look to blogs, newspapers, and web sites to get a deeper and more profound understanding of the topic if they are interested. It is more of the MSM being the lead in and the blog and online sources providing the detail.
