TweetNewz's Blog

Yesterday marked the passing of Michael Jackson, the King of Pop.  It is a sad moment in history, and a time for reflection upon his many musical and personal accomplishments.

However, his death has also brought to the forefront some of the most heated topics and debates surrounding the clash between new and old media.

1. Credibility within new media

This issue can be harshly demonstrated by Perez Hilton’s lack of information and insensitivity to the magnitude of the situation yesterday.  He posted on his Twitter blog that Michael was faking his medical condition to get out of a future performance across seas.  Clearly this wasn’t the case, and these types of self-promoting bloggers are ruining credibility for those users and blogs who work hard to provide insightful and valuable content.  Although this is just one person, he has a very large following on Twitter, and can influence many more people than a typical individual blogger.

Please click the picture below for more information about the post on Mashable.

2. Timeliness when reporting news

TMZ was credited as the first to publish the news that he was dead while large news outlets and old media were behind by a few hours.  After TMZ broke the news, Twitter was skyrocketing with Michael Jackson commentary, approximately 40 minutes before the L.A. Times confirmed the report.  Supporters of new media feel this is just another example of how new media is becoming a more powerful medium for posting and sharing news.  On the other hand, old media believe TMZ just guessed and got lucky.  They feel that sites like TMZ lack credibility in the long haul within the consumer’s mind.

For a more thorough look at this debate check out the following article on Techcrunch.

Whichever side you support, it is easy to see how these two issues stir up such a wide array of controversy.  While new media can provide the speed of information, they often lack the credibility, i.e. Perez Hilton.  As for old media, they must continue to establish a strong bond of trust with their consumer, but most importantly, they can’t continue to ignore the power of new media.  Instead they should look for a way to incorporate it and add value to their reporting.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 26th, 2009 at 11:58 am and is filed under Blog, Journalism, Social Media, Traditional Media, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.