Collaborate or Die? Annotated Bibliography Example

Potter, D. (2009). Collaborate or die?: local tv stations are joining forces to cover the news. American Journalism Review, Retrieved on October 10, 2009, from Web site:  http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4699

Summary

This article focused on the emergence of media outlets merging with one another in order to reduce the costs that each network would be forced to accrue separately.  The recession has had a highly negative impact on the costs of television and in-print networks, and many networks have been forced to eliminate paid staffing positions and cut budgets tremendously in order to stay afloat.  Meanwhile, the demand for news stories and media production has not reduced.  Therefore, with reduced budgets, the author mentions that it becomes necessary for media networks to collaborate with one another to handle the high workload with reduced resources, without sacrificing the overall quality of their work.  The article discusses the prevalence of this collaboration within local news media sources, where stations have worked together to send one reporting crew to the a scene, using one reporting helicopter, or even having two news stations sharing the same station location at different times of the day to help solve financial problems.  This stems from the previous trend of newspaper and television media outlets merging together to produce similar information through multiple mediums at cheaper costs.  It is not clear what the overall effects of collaboration are going to be in the long term, but the short term will definitely provided decreased costs without reducing the quality or quantity of production.

Assessment

While the importance of collaboration holds many important economic considerations for media networks, it is important to consider the competition factors that are associated with each network in the media industry.  These companies, by nature, are competing with one another on viewership and profits.  By using the same networking teams, or even the same stations, these companies are sacrificing competition in order to improve upon the recession-causing budget crises.  It is interesting to know what kind of long term issues this will raise and how it will impact the competition of multiple news media outlets in the local and national scenes.  Internet outlets and newspapers are beginning to merge with one another also.  We could be looking at possible oligarchic industries or monopolies within the near future where news is based upon profit margins and not reporting the truth of the information.

Rhetorical Conventions

The author utilized typical newspaper format within the article.  The tone was overall serious so that the reader understood the importance of the issue, but it never was presented in a way where serious problems could arise.  The sentence structures were fairly short so that the readership does not need to be highly educated to understand the author’s main points.  The author also used various examples to support her points on collaborating from media networks that have already begun this practice.

Sutter, John, D. (2009). Future of online news may be ‘hyperlocal’. CNN.com, Retrieved on October 10, 2009, from Web site:  http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/05/01/future.online.news.hyperlocal/index.html

Summary

This article has focused on the important changes that are being swept throughout the media industry in reporting localized news.  From the beginning, the author specifically gives examples of “hyperlocal” internet sites that are focusing their efforts solely on local issues and concentrating only on those issues rather than being overly concerned with national news.  This is largely caused from the struggling economy that has forced hundreds of media networks to lay off reporters and news journalists while cutting their budgets down significantly to save on costs.  Over 28,000 people have been laid off from their positions within media companies and this figure has not shown any signs of slowing down.  Meanwhile, many in-print outlets have eliminated their physical sources, like newspapers or magazines, and have decided to save costs by producing news stories only on the internet.  As this trend for hyperlocal outlets continues to grow, over 800 new media outlets have become apart of the hyperlocal craze.  These sites have hired writers that typically live within the areas that they report about so that they can give a very personal and close touch on the topics, instead of the general, vague ways that these stories can be produced by national companies.  The author also touched on the fact that larger media companies receive most of their funding from advertising sales so they are focused on providing specific content that will attract companies to increase advertising sales and profits.  On the other hand, hyperlocal organizations receive government grants, minimal web site advertising, non-profit donations, and community readership donations that help promote accuracy of reporting and provide financial rewards for quality stories.

Assessment

Many articles have touched on the growing trend that media outlets and organizations are moving towards in order to help adjust in response to the struggling economy.  Hundreds of media companies have drastically cut budgets and eliminated paid staffing positions in response, and many journalists are on the streets trying to find a way to continue to earn a living within the industry.  The hyperlocal companies have provided an outlet for some of these journalists, while also giving local citizens the opportunity to report stories that would otherwise not be told by larger companies.  This has a very beneficial community-oriented result for the immediate future, but it is doubtful that this trend will actually provide any major changes within the industry.  Eventually, when the economy has improved, the larger companies will likely revert back to previous behaviors and increase spending accordingly.  For now, they must pinch every penny, just as millions of other people in the country are doing each day.  It is interesting to see that the emergence of companies has risen at such a high rate when most people are likely interested in the main news stories that impact the nation.  The community stories have not had a strong connection with the actual communities that are being reported on, so this may be a call to larger companies to change their behaviors and provide reports on the local companies with a stronger emphasis on community-orientation rather than national stories and advertising profits.

Rhetorical Conventions

The tone of the article is very serious because it covers the immediate problems within the media industry immediately from the beginning and throughout the entire article.  It begins by using an example of a hyperlocal company in San Diego that concentrated solely on San Diego news instead of relaying information that every other network had reported nation-wide.  The author used several quotes and gave the names and positions of people within the industry that made an important comment on the status of the industry as well as the emergence of hyperlocal outlets.  The readership is meant to include normal citizens because it is not overly formal to where the word-usage can be confusing.  Anyone reading the article can understand the main points, and the illustrations used within the article help the author communicate examples of her main points as well.