So despite not wanting to look like I’m sucking up to new media moguls – I wanted to write about changes that are creating seismic changes in journalism.
Michael Arrington, founder of blog TechCrunch leads an truly bizarre life with almost zero work/life balance. But look at the stuff it delivers… Just he other day TechCrunch broke the story of alleged collusion among a small band of hyper-influential Silicon Valley angel investors.
Yes it’s just alleged, and yes we’re talking about a fairly enclosed echo chamber here, but the ramifications of that post and what it unleashed have led to some pretty earthshaking comments. From leaked emails to deleted tweets, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that we’re seeing newsmaking and reporting that is on a level with the journalistic scoops of a generation ago – Watergate et al.
I used to be sad that I worked in new media, thinking that it lacked something that old media still retains. Scoops like this one show why new media is on he ascendency. Sure I’ve been drinking the Kool Aide, and sure there’s lots of bad quality reporting in new media. But when it comes to breaking stories fast and leveraging a widespread social graph – nothing can beat online.
Welcome to the future.
