Oone of the many points that was made was that newspapers are laying off quality writers in a time when the public are craving for more information.
This morning's FT makes the point again
Websites specialising in business news and market information are witnessing heavy increases in traffic, as investors worry about the impact of the unfolding global financial crisis.
Financial news and research sites in the US saw a 30 per cent year-on-year jump and a 9 per cent month-on-month gain in September, according to comScore Media Metrix, the audience measurement group
Indeed
The boom has continued into October, according to Nielsen Online, which highlighted a 55 per cent surge in the US audience for Yahoo Finance, the largest site in the sector, in the four weeks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers
1 comment:
I'm not really sure that the problem is a need for more reporters. A recent telephone survey of almost eleven hundred Americans, conducted by scientists from the Texas A&M University, shows that "the more informed respondents both feel less personally responsible for global warming, and also show less concern for global warming" (Risk Analysis, Vol.28, Issue 1, Feb 08). Oddly enough, the more actively the media publicizes the problem, the less concerned people become. It would appear our society is asking professionals to solve this global-scale problem, and not disturb regular people with cries of imminent disaster. In other words if people do not perceive their responsibility for society's problems knowing the facts is useless.
On the other hand I guess it could be argued that skilled journalist could impact the public's perception of their responsibility. The problem with that logic is that it appears that people have always had a singular focus on achieving personal comfort. The root cause of the problem seems to be one of egoism, and nobody is even thinking of changing that. For some ideas on addressing this issue I would suggest checking out what Michael Laitman has to say in his article The More You Know the Better You Sleep http://www.laitman.com/2008/04/the-more-you-know-the-better-you-sleephttp://www.laitman.com/2008/04/the-more-you-know-the-better-you-sleep/.
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