The hard news equation, and why it matters to Buzzfeed
With Buzzfeed pushing to be recognised as a news site Ciaran Norris looks at why it matters for new online media outlets to be seen as serious.
Every morning on its News Breakfast show the ABC runs through the major stories on the front pages of the day’s newspapers, covering everything from the Sydney Morning Herald to The Age, the Daily Telegraph to The Mercury. But it has also, for some time, included the homepage of the Australian version of The Guardian which differs from the rest of the organisations included because it has no printed version.Whilst the idea that an organisation shouldn’t have to print words on to paper to be considered a news publisher isn’t exactly a radical one, it does raise some interesting questions about what does qualify as news media, who decides what qualifies and whether it matters.
Nielsen obviously agrees with the ABC that The Guardian counts as news media as it ranks the site in amongst other news organisations. However, Nielsen also categorises the local version of the Mail Online as a news site though the ABC doesn’t feature it. Something that both the ABC and Nielsen do appear to agree on though is that Buzzfeed isn’t a news organisation.
Earlier this year Buzzfeed questioned its categorisation by Nielsen; rather than being listed as a news site it is listed in the “search engines, portals and communities” category. Simon Crerar, Buzzfeed Australia’s editor, was quoted by Mumbrella as saying:
The issue with Buzzfeed is that its content largely is pulled from other sites where UGC originates, particularly reddit, and tumblr or imgur. Meaning Buzzfeed really just curate and aggregate, rather than come up with anything new.
@J: So Buzzfeed content is “largely pulled from other sites…. Meaning Buzzfeed really just curate and aggregate, rather than come up with anything new.”
Perhaps I am thick – many have advised me I am – but I dont see how this differs from news.com.au. ?
What am I missing?
Ripping off a bunch of content from someone’s blog, turning it into a list format & then padding it out with some additional reddit and/or imgur content isn’t news.
Buzzfeed needs to get out of its own arsehole.
I wasn’t aware that listing nostalgic 90’s crap and rehashing memes was counted as a serious news outlet…
Calling Buzzfeed a news site is like calling Pornhub an art site.
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Again – I just cant see how this differs in any significant way from news.com.au.?? Its all click-bait as far as I can tell?
Buzz Feed. Where all the important stuff in the world is dutifully ‘reported’.
Today’s ‘headlines’:
1. 29 questions that Australian people need to answer right now
2. Porn burger is still happening and it continues to look amazing
3 . 12 adorable things that are actually your worst nightmare …
Honestly I’m fine for these sites to exist and flourish.
But passing them off as news… I’m with Hank. I’m off to see some ‘art’…