This is a posting to show you what the news business will look like soon. Newspapers are folding, broadcast news is cutting back, and cable news is now the combination of bad local news’ entertainment bias and talk radio’s right-wing screaming tactics. Let me show you the future and how you will be a big part of it. And I’ll give you a glimpse of what I will be doing soon in this new news landscape.

 

A number of media analysis is writing about the financial and cultural demise of network television. Dramas and comedies are all going to cable or at least a cable model. Jay Leno might be on NBC next fall, but it will look like Comedy Central.

 

The same is happening with news. But it will be more drastic.

 

Here I’ll show you how the newscasts – as we know it – are also moving toward a cable model and how that will fail and change very soon.

 

The three reasons news is either changing or collapsing are:

 

The failure of the electronic news media to use competent and boring experts; the death of journalists – literally their lives and figuratively their careers; plus the rise of the internet and other new media; and whether you like it or not, the new citizen journalist – you.

 

Let’s look at network and cable news’ failure to give us real information. Watch Sunday’s mainstream media news shows NBC’s Meet the Press and ABC’s This Week. They both sounded like Fox News Channel’s Hannity or O’Reilly: screaming and yelling over each other.

At moments, these shows – like cable news — are unwatchable. Let me clarify that. They’re unwatchable for people who are serious about getting news and information. If you’re looking for entertainment or drama, namely verbal conflict between people, then this might be good TV. Me? I’d rather watch House or Burn Notice.

 

Unfortunately, this type of newscast creates more heat than light. And right now we need light.

 

 

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria’s GPS had a roundtable Sunday about the relevance of Islam that was just as bad as the other two Sunday shows. The saving grace for the show was Zakaria’s insightful – one-on-one — interview with Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf. Most Americans won’t agree with Wolf’s theory that the stimulus packages are too small, but at least Zakaria gave us an uninterrupted listen to a thinker with a cogent theory.

 

Yes, Meet the Press and This Week had one-on-one interviews, but they were with politicians or appointees who have their own bias.

 

Too often, cable and mainstream media rely on politicians, who are biased by nature, and commentators who spin for one side or the other. Or they carry another bias – entertainment bias. They have to pretty or funny. As a result, we rarely get to hear from experts – like Wolf.

 

And in these times, people want information as raw and untainted as possible and quickly. I wrote about “The Paradox of the Twenty-first Century Media in my book more than three years ago and it still applies today.

 

The overabundance of news and information we have today has forced news consumers to work harder to gain the truth.

 

Think about it. The media, as we have it today through all mediums, has actually created more questions, distortions, and outright lies.

 

What’s even worse for most of us news consumers is the dearth of true journalists. And the number of true news gatherers is dwindling fast.

 

The headlines – or the lack of them now — speak for themselves. Newspapers are dying and they haven’t figured out how to make money online yet. Or they haven’t figured out how to make enough to pay reporters.

 

This greatly affects TV stations. Where do you think most of the news you see on local TV comes from? That’s right, newspapers. TV stations cut what news relevance they had by dismissing higher paid and more experienced journalists.

 

While America is killing the careers of journalists, other countries are literally killing journalists. Anastasia Baburova was a Russian journalist who wrote about the growing Fascist policies of Russia. She was gunned down January 19, 2009 in Moscow in broad daylight. According to The Economist, “The next day, a party of nationalists brought champagne to the murder scene to celebrate the ‘elimination’ of their enemies.”

 

The America news media we have today has been silenced in a more subtle way. Because most of our news organizations are non-profit, investigative reporters (or what remains of them) won’t aim their flashlights at sponsors or potential sponsors. Sponsor and advertisers pay the bills and the journalists’ salaries.

 

Watch an investigation by a local TV station. If they go after a business, then that business is usually a small mom-and-pop and not an advertiser. We see the investigative mantel in TV stations becoming consumer reports. An angry viewer gets ripped off and the TV reporter comes to the rescue by uncovering a retail operation that has bad practices.

 

Trust me, I’ve witnessed this.

 

We had a great undercover investigation at KTNV that showed how women car buyers were getting ripped off compared to men car buyers. The investigation, complete with undercover audio and video, never ran. The Las Vegas Car Dealers Association went to my bosses and said if we ran the investigation KTNV would receive no ad dollars from any car dealer. If you watch any local TV you know that car dealers and personal injury lawyers keep TV afloat. The choice for station management was run the investigation and get some publicity but possibly lay off a number of newsroom staffers.

 

This same tactic has happened in even the biggest and best of journalism. Ask yourself this. How could the Wall Street Journal – with all of its accolades and crack financial reporters – have missed the corruption with subprime mortgages and credit default swaps? I’m surmising here. But those reporters were not allowed to bite the hand that was feeding them.

 

Look at steroids. Only one sports reporter – Bob Costas – raised the issue. Yet, hundreds of other sports reporters covering the games and interviewing in the locker rooms couldn’t see the massive body changes and the increase in power numbers? Of course, they saw it. However, to save their fun jobs or to save the revenues of their publications from the sports franchises, they said nothing.

 

Feel alone? You should.

 

The solution? It’s you.

 

Ask yourself this: who is your travel agent? For most of us, the answer is ourselves. We now book all of our flights online. Granted, if we (ever) go on a long and expensive vacation, we’ll use a qualified travel agent. But if you’re traveling for business or a weekend getaway, most times you are the travel agent.

 

The same is true now of the news business. You are the journalist. I speak at numerous events and the topic is usually “The Most Important Journalist in Your Life is You.”

 

The good news for you is this. Technology today makes it easier to become a journalist or citizen journalist.

 

As far as gathering news, the internet is a wealth of information. RSS feeds can act like what was once the newsroom ticker tape. Your cell phone or services like Skype give you instant access to people around the world.

 

Creating your own website and blog gives you worldwide distribution access. Twitter can allow you to report from the scene of an incident or event. In fact, Twitter proved the best news tool during the massacres in Mumbai.

 

And like me, you will be able to produce newscasts on your website.

 

The bad news is this. Most of us aren’t journalists. The information you get on the internet can be tainted. You might not know how to decipher what is news and what is propaganda.

Here comes the book plug. Yes, my book can help you think like a journalist for yourself.

 

But for those of us who don’t want to be journalist, those who already have a career, those who don’t have time to keep government and business on an honest path, the new journalists and the out-of-work journalists who are open to new business models will eventually return as our journalists.

 

You will start seeing newspapers popping up on the internet. The Pasadena Today is a daily newspaper online that is reported by journalists in India. That’s not the most ideal situation for news consumers. However, if journalists want to continue their work they will have to do two things: take less compensation and work harder in a different medium.

 

TV news will pop up on the internet with more regularity. I can’t disclose anything specific here. But I am involved in a number of TV news projects for the internet. You will see old name publications and networks rising again but in entirely different and modern day forms.

 

However, here’s what these shows will offer.

 

The news will be designed for specific audiences. It might be people in a specific profession. It could be a community of people like a neighborhood.

 

The news programs will have no time limits. In other words, the interviews or segments will be the length of time needed to cover an issue adequately. It might be five minutes but it might be two hours.

 

The problem with TV news today is the 30-minute window. As a viewer, you either feel cheated by not getting enough information on an important topic or you’re bored when there is not enough news and the show producer fills the time with nonsense.

 

Another problem with TV news today is the schedule. You have to watch the show when it’s aired. With the new news model, the shows are archived for the viewers’ convenience.

In addition, these new type shows won’t be just seen on computers but cell-phones as well. That will mean larger audiences than TV could deliver – and at lower costs than TV has.

 

In the shows I’m developing, I have some clear rules.   First, the shows will be loaded with experts. These experts will generally be allowed to speak their minds without interruption. I will use my skills as an interviewer to make them explain in greater detail their theories.   Second, I will use very little roundtable discussions with experts. If I do, I will have control of the microphones.   Third, I will have few politicians on the shows. There will be no politicians in roundtable discussions.   Fourth, I will go after everyone.   Five, if there are entertainers on the show then they will have a relevant topic to cover. For instance, my good friend Bryan Cranston, the Emmy Award winning star of the show Breaking Bad, will come on the show to help me discuss the issue of legalizing all street narcotics.   Six, there will be no discussion of Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan type stories. Seven, entertainers like talk Limbaugh, Kudlow, and Hannity won’t be discussed. I won’t waste your time.   Eight, I will disclose every conflict or monetary gain I or the show might be receiving by doing a story. (Disclosure: In fact, this column is a little bit of a plug for these upcoming shows.)

 

When this all happens, I’ll let you know. Until then, hang in there.

 

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