I’ve tried - I’ve really tried to have a certain amount of faith that the news media; whether they be print or television, actually understands this whole blogging and RSS feed thing. From the firs time I started reading feeds on a daily basis I have tried to keep a mind open to sources like CNN, Reuters, The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star (the last two are Canuck versions of newspapers for my non Canadian readers) but it is becoming more and more irritating to deal with their non-information RSS feeds.

Sure they might write a great headline but when that is all you get what is the point since chances are I already have feeds that are covering; or have already covered the same story but with a full text feed.

This was today’s partial offering from the Globe and Mail; which is the only Canadian news feed I get anymore because the Toronto Star was equally as bad so it got tossed to the side. And really the only reason I even bother with the Globe and Mail any more is partially out of loyalty to a fellow Canadian blogger Mathew Ingram who still has office space with them. If it wasn’t for that I probably wouldn’t even bother anymore with the Globe - as it is I pretty well skip over anything that shows up in their feed because there is nothing there to get my attention.

Of course that doesn’t mean that the US offerings are any better. They play headline hide and seek thinking that the old style bait and switch tactics will work just as well today to get us to visit their sites that much like the live; or print, versions are ad heavy to the point you have to wonder where the news is.

Of the two remaining US feeds I carry Reuters will most like be the last of the MSM feeds that I toss to the curb because at times they do redeem themselves with even enough of a news snippet to get your attention. CNN on the other hand is probably the biggest disappointment when it comes to a news agency that proclaims that  it gets the new media. Sure their on air presentations are full of glitz and tech shock and awe but I don’t have cable and nor do I even bother trying to fight my way through their site. So I rely on their RSS feeds to help keep me abreast of US news but like the Globe and Mail that is proving to be largely a waste of my time.

I might be a cranky old fart who to most people have nothing but time on my hands but I am also a blogger; and I like to think a pretty dedicated one, and as such I have a constant flow of information trying to get my attention. As much as I would like to be able to use news media like CNN and The Globe and Mail as reference points for posts I don’t have the time to  have to go hunting for the news that they are supposedly making easier for us to get. The fact is they are making it harder for bloggers to even consider them as a viable resource for anything more than a headline hint of news that we might have missed because generally bloggers have beaten them to what is going on and are willing to provide; for the most part, full text feeds of their stories.

As bloggers though it is important hat we don’t fall into a myopic blindness that restrict our sources only to other bloggers. We need the MSM input to provide a professional balance to the often opinionated point of view that we find ourselves writing from. The problem is that MSM agencies no matter the hyperbole they spew forth about joining the new media prove with every RSS feed that is published that they still don’t get it and because of that they increasingly demonstrate their growing lack of relevancy in a world of constantly changing news media.

As reluctant as I might be to finally unsubscribe from feeds that have basically become nothing more than constantly repetitive headlines with no substance I keep them around in the off chance that maybe one day soon they might actually grasp what it is they are suppose to be doing which is to provide the news in all ways available to them in a timely manner. At this point they don’t but one can always hope.

Listening to: Mind.In.A.Box - Lost Alone - Waiting

Conversation Tags: news media, newspapers, television