Monday, May 05, 2008

How political news reporting's changing

Yesterday I noted in Public editor chastises New York Times how competitive election news reporting has become as a result of 24/7 Web reporting.

What can an editor "hold for tomorrow's edition" when she knows the video will likely be on You Tube in the next 10 minutes?

And downplaying a story to help your favorite candidate?

Plenty of that still goes on, but it's getting harder to do. Just ask Sen. Barack Obama, but be sure you don't end your question with something like: "... ain't that right?"

In the new competitive environment it's not enough for many news orgs' Web sites to host only their own coverage. Realclearpolitics.com and other sites are hosting reports and commentary from other news outlets.

One-stop news shopping, you might call it.

Now even pollsters' Web sites are going in the one-stop direction.

During the 2004 election cycle, if you went to say - Rasmussen Reports - you found Rasmussen's polling reports.

Go there now. Count the news stories, columns, late-breaking events, etc it highlights and links.

Change indeed, even without Sen. Obama.

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