The Golden Age of Journalism, Huffington Post

The Huffington Post provides a platform for those who want to express themselves, a public square. But the editors and journalists who are required to write on deadline are paid. The difference between journalism and advocacy is clear, bloggers can advocate, journalists can not that's why they get paid.

"All you really have is you time and attention. I use my compassion for stories where I can make a difference. Stop wasting your time on stories of personal tragedy and focus upon stories of national significance.

Find one individual affected by the significant issue, and tell their story from a personal point of view. Show the effects of the issue in a way that reaches your audience emotionally, and thus moves them to action.

The job of journalists is to ferret out the truth. Go beyond the Left/Right narrative. Move past the assumption that every issue has a Liberal and Conservative side, and concentrate on the facts.

Don't work in some fantasy world of journalistic objectivity, but in pursuit of the truth of the issue.

People don't want to just consume news, they want to engage and tell the stories of their time. The new media is for a consumer in motion.

Self expression for millions of people is the new form of entertainment. The old media don't understand why people will spend 8 hrs a day writing blogs for free? But they are content with people who want to spend 8 hrs a day watching bad TV.

Now that everyone can participate in the media, engage in the news, people want to know who to believe. Now is the time for 'editors'. The job is to tell the truth, and tell stories that capture the imagination and the hearts (emotions), we must earn the people's trust. Trust is the new value.

Many people compare Fox News and MSNBC as if they were equals, but although they both tell their 'opinion stories' with obvious passion, Fox works in pure fantasy while MSNBC acts passionately on objective facts. Fiction is not the equal of Non-Fiction.

We journalists should not be above the conflict, we are not gentile narrators, we must become effective communicators, and that requires shouting when their is an emergency. But to cry wolf, again and again, as a pho-news reporter, or to distract people with meaningless and irrelevant gossip while the house burns down, is nothing less than criminal, this is the tragedy of such propaganda." - A. Huffington

Move your money campaign.

Online Book "The New Journalism"