Creator turned curator
One of the things being frequently discussed around the web is the future of journalists. Are they still going to be creators of content front and center, or will their role develop in another direction, where they fx become more curators of content separating signal from noise?
The media companies are often at the center of this discussion along with their publicist views born around the same time as the late Guttenberg himself. But now the Baltimore Sun Media Group is leading the way in trying to refine the role of journalism and media company going forward.
Baltimore Sun has launched bthesite.com, which is a site aimed at starting and fueling the online conversation around Baltimore. The format is a blog-style site, and the real interesting thing is that the content comes from all over the web - as long as it has newsrelevance to Baltimore and the people in it. Yes, Baltimore Sun is linking to other media companies content.
This is something a lot of media companies have always dreaded doing. For various reasons I am sure balanced somewhere in between an ancient view of copyright, old-fashioned pride and an insistence on that nobody can create content as well as one self. Question is: Do the readers really care?
I bet they don’t. Media companies have streamlined news creation so much that it doesn’t matter which creator, I get it from - as long as it’s relevant. And that’s why a site like bthesite.com is a very interesting move towards a future where journalists are as much curators as they are creators.
4 comments
true true ,I believe that it’s not a content role that the media will have in the future - but an aggregator role. This means that the journalists will be able to use their research and the selectiveness more than their writing skill. =)
ah wonderful future
Interesting at the very least. I wonder what keeps the media companies from pursuing a future, where they are more curators than creators? Surely with the unified and common approach to reporting today it cannot be for fear of lack of a distinctive voice?
They’re moving out into the baltimore suburbs with a new site launching later this week. It’ll be more news style at first, but already link to the other properties around the area that would traditionally be called competitors. The blogs and other content is set to come with in a week or so too
S,
Sounds really interesting.
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