I was browsing Google News and clicked on a link for some information on the Israel / Lebanon conflict that is happening. To much surprise i was lead to the MTV news website for the story. When I clicked on the link, the last place I hoped to be directed to was MTV. I guess it is good that MTV is trying to get its target audience to pay attention to the news, or at least make them aware, but how reliable is their information. A quick scroll to the bottom of the page revealed that their news was actually taken from a CBS news website.
This leads me to think about “branding” of news and information these days. So people go to google news for an aggregated collection of news articles. They click on links to read about todays happenings and are directed to sites that “brand” the news. Sure, sources like the Times, USA Today, and other papers have been doing this for years by using news services like Reuters or the AP, but what happens when all you have to do is subscribe to an RSS feed and BINGO, you are a news source. Well maybe not the source, but a branded front for information.
I guess this could be a 30 page thesis or something, so maybe I should get to the point. My point is that where do we find credibility in todays syndicated, politicated, congregated, dollar driven world. Where is the “real” news and shouldn’t that matter more than ratings? I guess not in a world where money is king.
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