Chapter 4: "The Future of Journalism" - A cautionary tale

We've been having an interesting discussion about the Future of Journalism in class recently and these conversations have got me thinking about the direction things are headed. A friend and classmate Posted Her Thoughts via an editorial in the Winnipeg Free Press, we spoke at length in Journalism class, and even my instructors, Kenton Larsen and Duncan McMonagle have weighed in.

My turn!

I have been thinking about An Article I read about a month ago that introduced me to the term "Hit Board", which I found out, is a public record of how many pageviews or "hits" every single article has, on the the videogame-journalism site Kotaku, The article focuses on Kotaku's new EIC Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo), his philosophy on journalism in gaming and how his website measures success.

Apparently, with this site and all subdivisions of Gawker, Kotaku's "parent" blog, the content producers use the "Hit Board" as a tool to help tailor their future content to what is most popular and what got the most pageviews because essentially, these articles got the most advertising views.

Tailoring content towards the masses seems like a dangerous concept to me, because of what the general population seems to value in today's instant-gratification, change-fearing, reality-TV/celebrity obsessed culture that we've created. 

This creates an atmosphere where contributors to the website would steer away from writing a potentially interesting, engaging story about something no one has heard of yet, and instead choose to write a puff piece about something already popular just because it's guaranteed to drive high traffic.

Kotaku is a good example of this degradation in quality of content already. Articles and editorials about videogames and systems released months (and even years) ago are being written and posted on a daily basis, because the writers know that established fans will read a familiar article about something they like, as opposed to an article about something foreign to them.

This is a dangerous system for journalism to operate under but it seems like one of the only business models that is proven thus far, at least, in the realm of online media. 

Popular = Hits, Hits = Ads, Ads = Money, Money = Success!

One might argue that journalism should never be concerned with what's in or what sells, but in order to operate an actual media outlet that can pay its employees and continue to do business... It will need to bring in revenue somehow. 

For content producing sites, is there another business model that can or will emerge? Will subscriptions or paywalls emerge as profitable options? Are people even willing to pay for premium content?  Or will our content producing journalistic media be forced down a dangerous path of writing to appease the masses? 

Only thing I can say for certain is... It's a damn interesting time to be a Creative Communications student. 

                                                                                        -NxB

Playing: Guild Wars 2 by ArenaNet 

Watching:  The Office

Listening to: Childish Gambino - Camp

Chapter One: "The Virgin Diaries" - An introduction

My name is Nolan Bicknell, I am a Creative Communications student at Red River College in Winnipeg Manitoba. This is the first real blog I've ever sat down to write and in all honesty, it has been a struggle so far. Not a good sign, considering we're only two sentences in...

I don't know what this is going to be. Perhaps it will grow organically into something worth reading/writing, perhaps I'll find a new pastime, perhaps I'll make new connections with friends and professional acquaintences. Perhaps all, or none of the above. I guess we'll see.

I intend to write about the things that interest me the most: Videogames, media, gaming journalism, artistic integrity in the medium, and any other topics in the entertainment industry that pique my interest. I hope to engage in conversations with like-minded individuals, learn from them, and hopefully walk away with more knowledge and a better understanding about various aspects of the industry. I guess we'll see what happens, this is all very new to me and I'm learning as I go.

If it isn't already blatantly apparent, I'm new to blogging and uncomfortable with the whole idea. I'm from a dying generation of people that believe "public diary" is an oxymoron and until now I have kept my personal thoughts, feelings, and opinions private. I believe my Journalism 1 Instructor said it best during the first or second day of class when he callously, honestly, and accurately announced to the entire class "no one gives a shit what you think."

I guess we'll see.



                                                                                                               -NxB

Playing: Guild Wars 2 by ArenaNet (epic)

Reading: Guild Wars: Edge of Destiny by J. Robert King (see a pattern?) 

Watching: Sons of Anarchy (reruns)