Talkback: Do-it-yourself news a deluded dream

The ordinary people are about to take over the newsroom.

That's right. Mainstream news media as we know it are about to curl up at the toes. The internet has given everyone a voice. Cancel your newspaper subscriptions. News reporting no longer needs trained arbiters, balance, insight or skilled storytellers.

No, these days all that's needed is an internet connection. A few mouse clicks and you'll quickly find the necessary news, without going anywhere near Reuters. Or, if you're that way inclined, bash your computer keyboard some more and publish your doings. All the words are right there in the dictionary or, if you're still a bit shaky on the entire alphabet, try Google.

How hard can reporting be?

Recently the Herald ran a story from Britain's Independent about internet entrepreneur Craig Newmark, who has set his sights on news publishing. Flush with the success of his US-based classified advertising website, which apparently has snatched millions of dollars of classified advertising revenue away from newspaper publishers, Newmark reckons the "popular distrust of reporters" means the season is right for harvesting the "wisdom of the masses".

Daily journalism brought to you by anyone with a view and the inclination to report it.

According to Newmark, the big problem, and the reason the masses will soon be taking news reporting into their own hands, is that news publishers don't speak "truth to power". They've been neutered by certain "directives" and are too spooked to ask the hard questions. They're also greedy. And these factors combined are eroding the ability of mainstream news organisations to seek out and report the real stories, for fear of upsetting those in power and their advertisers.

Somehow I doubt it. What Newmark is proposing is a fanciful notion popular with propeller heads who spend too much time hallucinating about technology triumphing over human nature. Never mind the years of graft that go into mastering the craft of journalism, or the common law and professional standards that ensure news gathering and reporting are up to scratch.

If the masses distrust mainstream news organisations, how are they ever going to trust the "wisdom of the masses"? There are no arbiters among the masses. No editors, or the standards and law that underpin mainstream news reporting. And let's not forget the idea that most people don't enjoy reading dross, which prospers when news gathering and reporting processes employed by mainstream news organisations are missing.

Newmark's proposition is a bit like questioning the relevance of restaurants. Everyone knows how to cook, so why pay a premium for someone else to do it for you?

The threat to newspaper classified advertising from websites like Newmark's is real. But advertising is not news. While the internet has worked wonders for the masses by bringing together buyers and sellers, as a mechanism in its own right to entice readers away from their mainstream news media sources, I doubt it.

* Richard Carter is creative director of marketing communications company Talkies Group.