The Perception of Importance

I've watched with amusement as a nifty new addition has been included into the nightly news bulletin that I have time to watch. That nifty addition is the live cross to the "news room". What an exercise in importance manipulation.

Then I realised that the consistent little voice that suggests I need to continually update this blog with regular posts is singing the very same tune.

I think the extreme evidence of my first example can be seen on this post where the "live cross" is between two people who are geographically most likely 30 feet apart. An Australian example of this was the Brisbane "choppergate" affair where two live crosses to the helicopter were revealed to be not so accurate (the helicopter was right near the news studio rather than on location). Whilst these are extreme examples, the recent addition of the live cross to the "news room" doesn't actually explicitly make some geographical link between the story being covered and the need to link to the live site to get "the latest update". After all, this was the initial need for "live" crosses.

Edited and compiled news stories take time to edit and compile and in the meantime the story moves on. Therefore, crossing live for an update, makes sense to ensure that the details of the story could be further confirmed by the reporter, still on the scene, who was continuing to follow the story even after submitting their ready for broadcast compilation. Crossing to the reporter who was geographically close to the location where the story was taking place gave the "live cross" a level of importance based on its ability to provide new information about any key changes to details previously reported.

The cross to the "news room" is categorically different to the "live cross" to the geographic location as the geographic location not only underpinned the "up-to-date-ness" of the information, but, underpinned its reliability because the report was in close proximity to the source. Whilst not infallible, the closeness of the proximity to the source meant the report was first-hand. The new information was not only provided by the reporter, but verified by the reporter to be accurate, up to date details of any new developments. This is not the same as a reporter following twitter feeds and social media and other mediated developments in the story. This whole process has shaped us to see the latest information as the most important - and having access to it instantaneously as a credentialing factor. So the cross to the "news room", that hotbed of instantaneous finger on the pulse news gathering, reassures us that we have the latest information - whether it proves to be reliable or not is particularly irrelevant. A recent extreme example of this was in the identifying and reporting on the Boston bomber.

The irony seems to be that the "live cross" was needed to ensure reports remained reliable - providing new details that clarified or added to details provided in the pre-packaged report - yet the "news room" cross is provided to ensure the viewer that the reports remain the latest report, the most "up-to-date" as from my experience so far they have contained no new details or information and have only repeated the previously presented details.

Which, in a very round about way, leads me to my perception that posting often is what is required for this blog. Ask any successful blogger and you will see one of their top tips will be continual and regular updating and blogging. People need something new to read. They need it regularly. They need it often.

Hmmm....

I'm still to be convinced that instantaneous and, by implication, constant and regular, are somehow always positive values for information. I'm not saying they can't be. But I do wonder if we haven't made something constant that should rather be considered otherwise.

Perhaps this post is no less valuable because I have taken time to ponder and reflect and not posted it the moment the thought germinated in head. Maybe, irregular, occasional, even sporadic posting is a valuable way forward. Rather than posting because I must as continual and regular is required, maybe posting when I actually feel I have something worth pondering may have a different worth. Perhaps I may not interest many readers, but maybe, just maybe, those who take the time to read feel I have not wasted their time with little more than a brain fart on the insignificant.