Arianna Huffington Comes to Ithaca!

Tonight, Arianna Huffington spoke in Emerson Suites at Ithaca College. The co-founder of the Huffington Post gave her thoughts on the state of journalism and new media. One of the first points she made about the strengths of independent media is its tendency to present more than just the fact. Whereas many newspapers adhere to a strict inverted pyramid style, indy media sites aren't afraid to present news in other ways, such as with satire, video or dramatic flair.

She also applauded our continuously developing linked economy. She called it a "cause for celebration." Consumers of traditional media are passive, often picking up a newspaper and merely glancing at headlines or simply filling time. Independent media users, however, are active participants who follow links, investigate topics further, donate to causes, organize themselves around a political candidate or movement, or even donate to the reporting itself. "You consume new media galloping on a horse," she said.

Huffington also shared her thoughts on the decline of the print media. It was very refreshing to hear her shift the discussion from the future of newspapers to the future of journalism itself. While newspapers may be declining, what's more troubling for me as an aspiring journalist has been the subsequent decline of things like investigative reporting. Furthermore, as Huffington said, print media can never die out. Magazines, for instances, are popular with people heading to the beach, on a flight, or looking for a specific topic.

I think Huffington's strongest point came when she said the discussion is not about new versus old media, but instead about today's media versus yesterday's media. Regardless of their primary form of publication, all forms of media need an online footprint. Newspapers, magazines and broadcast stations all need to have a strong web presence that offers something their print or broadcast product cannot.

For more on Arianna Huffington, I recommend reading some of her blog posts on HuffPost. Her speech was great and I'm definitely glad I got to hear her speak here on campus.

Huffington Likes Our Obsessiveness

First of all, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I hope you had a great Halloween.

Tomorrow, Arianna Huffington will speak at Ithaca College. In preparation for her talk, I read this article in which Huffington discusses some of the issues facing independent media and journalism as a whole, as well as some of the strengths of indy media. The thing I found most interesting was her assessment of how the obsessiveness of Internet users has strengthened coverage of some of the most important topics. Crowd-sourcing has become a highly successful way of reporting a story. Huffington used it to find information on lobbyists in the U.S.; other sites have used it for such things as the positions of super-delegates in the last election. Before the Internet, this method of reporting was never possible. Obviously, it has its own share of drawbacks, not the least of which is the possible issue of inaccuracy -- after all, everyday citizens aren't trained in grammar and fact-finding like journalism students and mainstream reporters are. Still, the method has its strengths.

I think Huffington said it best: "Mainstream media suffer from attention deficit disorder. New media suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder."

Check out the rest of the article for more on this issue, as well as Huffington's assessment of the Internet's ability to spread, and more importantly discredit, rumors. And, check back on the blog tomorrow for an update on Huffington's talk on campus.