This morning at the Press Club members' breakfast table, I mentioned that the Hirschorn Museum in DC is going to build an inflatable, blue egg-shaped structure that will be erected twice a year on the top of the museum. The story was in the Washington Post today, and on the New York Times web site yesterday. Apparently this blue balloon will be able to house a 1,000-seat temporary auditorium. As a temporary structure, it can be put up on the mall without the usual procedures.
A young journo-geek across the table informed me authoritatively that this was old news because it had been on DCist, a blog, yesterday. This later set me to wondering how much it matters whether I discover(ed) this fact yesterday, today, or tomorrow, assuming I ever need to know it. Would it matter if I just happened to notice a giant blue egg on the museum one day? Why do I need to know "breaking news?" Is this question blasphemy and a violation of the First Amendment?
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What price selectivity? News is a competitive market-driven enterprise to reports facts that buyers want to hear. The industry seems to judge that those enterprises that report the most wanted facts first get more customers, and since silence definitely sells nothing, they have to fill their available time with the most interesting things for the most people they can find at any moment. Those who don't want to hear certain classes of news will have to subscribe to selective services that narrow reporting to chosen subjects. That kind of service can probably had for money, but free news carries the price of hearing "useless" facts that some of the multitudes demand.
ReplyDeleteI love it.... a blue shaped egg on top of the Hirschorn Museum. Can you imagine how it will change the cityscape of the mall? It will certainly stimulate allot of discussion and it will be newsworthy then just as it is now.
ReplyDeleteChristine