There is hope.
Despite the
collapsing daily newspaper industry and concern that people are not getting
enough factual, balanced news on current affairs, there is hope.
Hope is difficult to
see through dark statistics showing fewer sources of truthful and objective reporting
of world affairs.
Pew Research Centre
data shows that in 2015 only 16 per cent of adults 18 to 34 years old read a
daily newspaper. Among people 65-plus, traditionally the age group with the
largest per cent of readers, only 50 per cent were daily newspaper readers.
News Media Canada, which
represents print and digital news platforms, puts a brighter face on it. It
says nine out of ten Canadian adults read a daily or community newspaper in
print, online or mobile format every week.
Forget all the
research, statistics and various commentary on readership, however. The plain
fact is there is more fake news, less trustable news and fewer people reading
reliable news that can help them to make informed decisions.
That is a serious
problem for democracy. Even more serious considering that three of the planet’s
most dangerous countries – Russia, North Korea and the U.S. – are led by psychopaths.
News is
as vital to democracy as clean air, safe streets, good schools and public
health, an American blue ribbon commission on
information has noted.
Daily newspapers are providing fewer stories of
importance. Radio and television don’t have the length or depth to fill much of
that role. New media such as Twitter and Facebook don’t do it either because they
can’t be relied on to provide unvarnished facts.
Where is the hope then?
There are some new initiatives, and the one that
has impressed me the most is the Dutch startup named Blendle. It is an online
news platform launched three years ago by two young Dutch journalists. It
aggregates articles from newspapers and magazines, which can purchased on a
pay-per-article basis. The average cost of an article is roughly 30 cents.
The service was Europe-only at first but has
been tested in the U.S. and will officially launch there this fall. It has
about 25 U.S. titles now but so far none in Canada.
To use Blendle you go to its website and read
the menu of stories available. You might see a New York Times piece on how
Trump’s new health care plan shifts dollars from the poor to the rich. The
article will cost you 19 cents to read, which you pay by opening a digital
wallet where you have deposited some money.
An interesting aspect of Blendle is that if you
don’t like a story you have paid for, the service will refund your money. That
seems a dangerous policy. People read
articles, say they don’t like them, even if they do, and get their money
back. How many unscrupulous readers are doing that?
Not many, Jessica Best, head of Blendle
editorial, tells me in an interview from Amsterdam, Blendle’s headquarters.
The U.S. refund rate is only seven per cent, she
says, “. . . partly because people care about our mission. They believe in our
mission.”
I love the pay-per-article idea. You don’t have
to pay a subscription or buy an entire newspaper or magazine to read one
article when you don’t have interest in - or the time to read - the rest.
To be successful Blendle must offer top drawer
content tailored for its readers. Or as Ms. Best puts it, “original quality
journalism.”
And that means more than reporting just what
happened this morning, or yesterday, with no perspective, background or why
what happened, happened.
“We are looking for people willing to pay for the why,
not the what,” she says.
So therein lies the hope: two young guys invent a
new way of bringing trustable news to readers who need it to make informed
decisions on what is happening in their world.
There are others out there who will find more ways
of delivering the vital and trustable news and information we need to
understand this increasingly complicated world and give us ideas on how to best
navigate it.
What we all need to do is dedicate more time to
consuming it.
Email: shaman@vianet.caProfile: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8FY3Y
No comments:
Post a Comment