Feb. 4

In "Serendipity" the author points out a theme we read about last week, the overwhelming amount of news readers have to choose from online. Ethan makes an interesting connection between the "birds of a feather..." concept and how people consume media. It is true that readers will take a cue from their peers; read stories e-mailed to them, vote on stories and develop their own communities online. I also agree with that losing the "serendipity" of stumbling across a story I would not normally read would be tragic to news. It is our job, as journalists, to expose readers to stories, issues that they might not have been interested in. In my group, I would suggest we utilize some of these network sharing tools, such as e-mailing stories and voting on contests to engage readers and allow the "birds of a feather to stick together," but I would also caution against a completely user-generated Web site.
In "Passion Replaces the Dullness..." I have to say that I grew nervous over a professor who was thrilled his students' main chosen source for news was "The Daily Show." I've always cowered in the corner when these mainstream-media mudslinging discussions come up. I'm afraid to admit that I'm not completely sold on this idea of a world informed only by bloggers and independent, biased media outlets. But reading further I found that I did agree with his argument that there needs to be more passion in the newsroom, in journalists in general.
"Accepting the challenge," starts off with the same old story I've read a thousand times -- you know how to use that crazy-flying machine, the Internet! You'll be saved, we'll all be saved! Ok. But later in the article he offers some good advice for our group's idea, "content and community." This is basically, I think, what we have decided to create by doing a hyper-local site. But adding Twitter, as suggested, might not be a bad idea.
In "Journalism and Citzenship..." there were some interesting and concrete numbers concerning our generation and our relationship to news. It's sad to think only 20 percent of us read a newspaper everyday, and I have to admit there are days when I am not a member of that percentage myself. Developing a news habit is crucial, and I must admit that my love of the Washington Post came from Scully's insistence that we read it while studying in Washington. But I wonder, how can news organizations make their readers read? Is it up to schools and colleges to pick up where journalists are failing? Scary thought... In the end I agree that we, as journalists, need to push forward and return to the days when ratings and circulation didn't matter as much as telling the stories. That's the only way we can gain readers trust back.