For some reason, many members of the senior generation are totally oblivious as to what is happening in newspaper reporting. I have heard some say that their favorite reporters are no longer with the publications they religiously read. They think it has something to do with the economy. That is partially true. However, the accurate explanation is that the Internet has changed the dynamics of writing. Many of the old timers just couldn’t or wouldn’t keep up with the structural changes needed for digital reporting. All of a sudden editors wanted shorter stories, less background checks and fewer explanations.

There was fierce competition from something called a blog. Blogs were free flowing essays from a new breed of young writers who wrote whatever they wanted, whenever and wherever. They didn’t have fact checkers, copy editors or bosses breathing down their necks with non-relevant assignments. At first, bloggers were shunned from press events and front row seats. It took a few years, but a good number of them from the world of tech, financial, fashion and beauty, became more important to their industries than the writers who were covering them for 20 or 30 years. They had the freedom to flex their muscles and they took every advantage of it. Unlike their predecessors, they learned the tricks of digital reporting that allowed them new avenues of exposure and networking.

Today stories are no longer about who, what, where, why and how.  They are all about the three C’s: created content, contributed content and collected content. Bloggers no longer have to cover every element of a story to make a point. They just use the three C’s as I am about to do. Instead of posting hundreds of words of copy to underscore what I am talking about,  I am going to share a link with you that will  that will give you further details on this topic. Hopefully someday someone will use my copy (link) to fill out their story.

http://mashable.com/2012/04/27/tips-great-content-curation/?utm_source=iphoneapp