Is Social Media Forcing the End of Investigative Journalism?

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that they will be cutting 100 newsroom jobs this year. That’s because the attention is no longer on newspapers or new sites but it going to other forms of media including social media (blogs, twitter, social networks, etc). As attention turns elsewhere I can’t help but think that the quality of news will drop.

Then again, one might argue that the beginning of 24-hour news channels was the beginning of the end of high quality news sources. I have stopped spending as much time on sites like the Wall Street Journal and CNN and now instead spend my time reading through thousands of blogs that write about topics that I’m interested. I also think that I am part of a minority group and so are the active readers of this blog.

Even still, statistics are showing that traditional television viewers are going to YouTube and MySpace Video to find their video content. That means that it isn’t just the social media advocates that are becoming converts. Ultimately though, it is easier for an individual to pump out editorial content then spending time investigating a story. As result we are seeing a decrease in the quality of content being produced. Is this a bad thing? I think so. What do you think?

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.