Chapter 10 Managing News as a Conversation

I think it’s pretty interesting how we’ve transitioned into this era where consumers no longer want their news to just be spoon-fed to them and then that’s it. People want to be a part of their news, they want to respond, provide rebuttals and criticism. Journalists now-a-days have to be ready to manage online communities and participate in various social networks.

What began as comments on news stories and blog posts has mushroomed into full social networking tools on news sites and full participation by journalists in dominant social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. I like the idea that by making news into conversation, journalist can have a lot more sources. “Comments provide a forum for readers to complain about what they see as unfairness or inaccuracy in an article, to talk to each other, and to bloviate,” said Feaver.  This is all great feedback for a journalist to be able to shape his craft.

Some benefits to news as a conversation include:

• Provides transparency on the reporting process
• Enables an immediate feedback loop
• Spreads awareness of news coverage through word-of-mouth marketing

I think there are some journalists out there that would be surprised at how much they could learn from their audience through using the news as conversation.