IP Democracy: Must-Read: Is Yahoo the Enemy of Mainstream Media?

Courtesy of Rebuilding Media, Mark Glaser has an excellent report in this month’s Online Journalism Review about Yahoo’s efforts to beef up its original reporting and the resulting fearful reaction of mainstream media. Part of the traditional media’s concern stems from Yahoo’s power as a news aggregator, with outlets such as the Los Angeles Times fearful of Yahoo shoving aside unaffiliated content providers in favor of their own reporters.

Scott Moore, head of Yahoo’s content operations, told Glaser that none of the 70 content providers with which Yahoo works has nothing to fear. Neil Budde, General Manager of Yahoo News, elaborated:

“What we’re doing with Kevin Sites [Yahoo’s first traveling war correspondent] is to venture into an area that allows us to understand better the future of online journalism, building something from the ground up and have someone cover something in a multimedia way,” Budde said. “But we’re trying to stake out areas that are not getting a lot of coverage. We’re not going to go out and replicate what is already available from other media sources and news organizations. We’re looking at areas where we can cover stories in different areas or areas that aren’t getting any coverage.”

Glaser also points out that despite the grumblings of mainstream media outlets, they’re in no rush to innovate at the level of Yahoo.

According to PressThink’s Jay Rosen:

“Big Media does not know how to innovate,” Rosen wrote on PressThink. “What capacity for product development do news organizations show? Zip. How are they on nurturing innovation? Terrible. Is there an entrepreneurial spirit in newsrooms? No. Do smart young people ever come in and overturn everything? Never. Do these firms attract designers and geeks who are gifted with technology? They don’t, because they don’t do anything challenging enough. They don’t innovate, or pay well. So they can’t compete.”

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on October 7, 2005 8:32 AM to IP Democracy