TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

James Shelley wonders:

Who actually thinks that in another 10 years we will actually turn on the television or open a newspaper to find out the news? Since we the people are now filming the news, why would we want to pass it by a middle man first?

Well, I do. We will watch it on TV, and while we might not read it in printed newspapers in 10 years (though I suspect they’ll still be around). we will certainly read news from news organizations all the same.

Why should we pass it through a middle-man first? Because first-person reports, even video, are misleading. They don’t show context. They’re not conducive to accurate reporting.

We’ll still get our news through “middle-men” first because they provide a lot more value than that implies: they can filter the news for what’s important, they add context to enflaming news events, and they’ll report on things that citizen “journalists” don’t find all that interesting but are just as important as the sexy news stories.

Most news organizations today don’t do this as well as they should, and I think this is a large reason why we have so little trust in them today and why many are having a difficult time surviving. But regardless, there’s an important service middle-men can provide — and it’s based around being objective. Hopefully an organization will figure that out soon.

(Via Pat Dryburgh.)