
This Is Broken: From Game Stories to, Well, Everything - _pius
http://reinventingthenewsroom.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/this-is-broken-from-game-stories-to-well-everything/
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jerf
I've thought this too; the New York Times ought to be like Wikipedia in
structure, if not in editorial policy. From any Iraq story I should be able to
get background on the whole situation, chronological listings of important
events and newstories, and so on; a deep web of information that the
newspapers _already have_ but wrap up in this incredibly outdated format with
horrible costs.

Instead, we live in a world where a simple report on the results of a study is
about 50-50 on whether it will even mention the name of the journal it appears
in, let alone reference the actual issue, let alone cite it fully, let alone
provide a link to the download site (paywalled or otherwise). It's just
unspeakably horrible, and like the guy basically says, the blinders the
journalists wear leave them completely cognitively unsuited to seeing how they
could be doing such a better job.

The cynic in me observes that most media outlets at this point are just
propaganda outlets of one sort or another, but I'll do them the courtesy of
assuming this is because that's the only thing the form they use is good for,
so who's surprised that's what comes out? If we want better media, we need
better writing forms, regardless of the tech used to deliver it.

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pmichaud
This is fantastic personal advice too. Think of something you're doing in your
life right now, and ask yourself: would I be doing this if I had just started
today?

Job? Marriage? Friendships?

It's worth thinking about.

