Few people have enough time to fact check what’s posted as news or information on the web. Consequently, less than accurate or authentic sources are at liberty to publish news or content without the ‘burden’ of the standards and rigor which came to define journalism and research previously. I suspect this has led to an entire industry slackening their standards to keep their audience, much the way that sub-prime lending failed.

“Reporting for the masses just does not work anymore.”

Is this the truth, or what you suspect will happen? The likelihood of any single media group cornering the market on ‘the truth’ beyond simple factual reality seems highly unlikely. Transparency is highly desirable for most, but so is some semblance of objectivity.

What you’re describing isn’t journalism – it’s market research. The operative idea might be summarized by saying “find what your audience likes, and then sell that to them.”, not the scientific method. The possibility, even the likelihood of distortions, errors, omissions and the like increases greatly.

I appreciate this post, since it does describe the trend for the past ten years or so, but the conclusions it takes for grned are very disturbing.