Does the popularity of TV news “magazines” affect the news gathering of newspapers?
Yes, the stories they cover often become news. But they have not changed the way newspapers gather the news. Will newspapers get more of their information from news agencies, rather than their own reporters, especially international news? Yes and no. They will only use information form foreign news agencies if they trust that it’s fair, truthful and unbiased. There is a tendency to rely on your own reporters first. And today technology allows a reporter to go to the interior of Africa and file a story from there instantly using a satellite phone and a laptop. What’s the future of local news in this information explosion? There’s local news, and there is local local news. All news should be relevant to the locals who read you paper. For instance, a revolution in the Philippines — what does that have to do with the Patriot Ledger’s readers? Well, Quincy’s soap plant got its raw material — palm oil — from the Philippines. A newspaper must understand how to present the news so it inform
