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Is being first overrated for newsrooms?

Posted Oct 4th, 2009 at 3:47 PM and seen
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Keep pace with journalism here.

The president of CNN, Joe Klein, recently commented in a panel that, "[CNN's] mission first is to be accurate. This whole thing about being first is overrated."

This is certainly different from old newsroom tactics, in which reporting a story first was a serious badge of validity. When I worked at a TV station, I remember several occasions, crowded around a cluster of monitors, seeing if we could break the big news before the other stations, even by a millisecond. And if we were first, we'd parade that around on news ads and at any other vaguely appropriate opportunity.

That's changing now.

Klein's remarks seem to motion to the new, dramatic changes to journalism. Good luck being first: We've got Twitter. We've got Flickr. Heck, we've got Google Wave now. The true value of traditional journalism? Accuracy, ethics, and depth—not speed.

You didn't read it here first. Read the quote in this Poynter column.

by @noelleee

 Noelle Chun

Comments (6)

Oct 04, 2009
Bastian Lehmann said...
I agree only to a certain extend. Im my opinion TV stations and broadcasters are still in the race to deliver the news first - first and accurate maybe. The truth is that being first helps you monetize around the scarcity of the information. Hell, this is still true with Twitter and the real-time web. Having the information first is something that you can monetize on Twitter, but here followers or numbers of retweets are the currency of choice. So the fact remains, that having access to information first is extremely valuable. It might be that news agencies and correspondents can't beat Twitter and the real-time web, but that just shows that traditional journalists need new tools. Tools that help them to take advantage of the real-time web. Tools that help them to turn tweets and other available information into NEWS - first.
Oct 04, 2009
jmitchener said...
I love the immediacy of Twitter, but I also cherish the in-depth analysis of my local weekly newspaper. Their perspective is typically more thoroughly considered. Do I always agree? No, but I appreciate the effort. It is really hard to be first as a weekly!
Oct 04, 2009
Ron Bischof said...
Frankly, I'm more concerned whether major new organization covers a story at all. For example, the NYTs apologia regarding their lack of reporting on the Acorn scandal was risible.
Oct 05, 2009
Ada Wong said...
I like this discussion. I'd say being the first to report with a high degree of accuracy, insight and neutrality is key to ongoing reader engagement.
Oct 05, 2009
Leigh said...
Strange thing to be said by CNN, considering that, just recently, they created a national stir by FALSELY reporting that DC was once again under terrorist attack, because their desire to be first trumped their desire for accurate reporting.
Oct 06, 2009
Chris Kieff said...
With the plethora of news sources today, being relevant for your audience is more important than being first. This is part of the larger trend where the value of content is declining with the over supply. The ability to identify the information valuable to your audience is most important in today's environment.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Chris

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