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Mika Brzezinski’s lesson to journalists afraid of web 2.0 revolution

The biggest problem for journalism is not web 2.0 or something .
It is that there are too many journalists out there who in the name of news reporting are covering banal, useless news.

Mika Brzezinski is not one of them. A seasoned newscaster and journalist, she was there on Ground Zero when the South tower of World Trade Center went down.

Recently, she refused to read her segment’s lead news item on recently freed jailbird Paris Hilton.

In India, there are more politicians, small-time dancing actors and assorted cricket administrators along with ghosts on News TV than meaningful hard news.

The Indian news media takes scues from the West and I hope some of them are inspired by what Mika Brzezinski did.

When Paris Hilton came out of Jail, it was a bigger moment than Michael Moore’s “Sicko” a documentary on the U.S. healthcare system.

While most Americans aren’t that enamored of Ms. Hilton, the media and the blogosphere don’t want to let go of Paris – many online properties including Digg.com and Gawker.com owe their early success to covering Paris Hilton.

The media continue covering celebs, of all kinds, low lifes especially, knowing fully well that the subject probably benefits more from the coverage – an interviewee on CNN noted that each extra minute of TV coverage increases Paris Hilton’s value – he meant the money Ms. Hilton would receive from nightclub owners for making an appearance.

But when Mika Brzezinski tried to put fire to the script on Air, she gave vent to many journalists’ frustration against the present ‘celeb-centric, ratings-manic’ media establishment.


A blogger writes:

I have a new hero and her name is Mika Brzezinski.

Journalists who fret that the two-way web 2.0 revolution will eventually eat their lunch are wrong. Conviction about what’s news will win the day. Look around and you will many stories that need your attention - go aheda, write a blog about it; make a video blog on it.

Link to Youtube Video of Mika Brzezinski is here.

Labels: enterprise web 2.0, journalism, paris hilton, trends

posted by Pramit Singh @ 1:43 PM