The Buzz Bin

In continuing trends outlined in the social media manifesto, “Welcome to the Fifth Estate,” the traditional media establishment continues to respond to social media adoption. Consider the following three news stories from last week:

1) The New York Times lauded fifth estate citizen journalism as innovative means for receiving news.The paper cited presidential campaign use of Twitter as well as the use of mil-blogs to report on the Iraq war.

2) Other news outlets have followed the NY Times stunning move to open its content and the corresponding large jump in traffic the paper received. The Times opened up to compete more effectively with newer social media outlets. The Atlantic Monthly, a political and cultural mainstay, and the Wall Street Journal announced they will follow suit, and make all or most of their content free to Internet readers.

These publications are actively moving towards their readerships’ media consumption habits. Perhaps they will enjoy the same success as the New York Times did.

3) At the same time, some newspapers have failed to adapt, and are not serving their communities.  Monopoly power has made them drunk on power. A recent WaPost article guest written by The Wire’s David Simon (found through Wikinomics’ Denis Haycock) discussed the trials and tribulations of the Baltimore Sun, and its failure to serve the majority of local citizens:

At the moment when the Internet was about to arrive, most big-city newspapers — having survived the arrival of television and confident in their advertising base — were neither hungry, nor worried, nor ambitious…

So in a city where half the adult black males are unemployed, where the unions have been busted, and crime and poverty have overwhelmed one neighborhood after the next, the daily newspaper no longer maintains a poverty beat or a labor beat. The city courthouse went uncovered for almost a year at one point. The last time a reporter was assigned to monitor a burgeoning prison system, I was a kid working the night desk.

Simon goes on to account for further changes through the internet era, and the ultimate demise of quality in many newsrooms across America.

Per the Fifth Estate manifesto, "While still authoritative, the media no longer enjoys complete trust. The Fifth Estate — citizen media — brings to bear unreported yet relevant news, and questions stated facts.  Indeed, in some cases the media has welcomed social media, using it to augment its own research."

These three stories show the symbiotic relationship between online social media and traditional newspapers continues to strengthen.  Sacrificing quality yields less subscribers, and at the same holding quality from online readers only also yields lower readership.  Listening to the community, serving the community with open great content does seem to work. The Fifth Estate works with the Fourth to create the 21st century’s composite media picture.