Editor's Focus

Many futurists and visionaries have expressed excitement about a media world where the established "guardians of information" can be side-stepped. In theory, a new generation of freelancers and ad hoc reporters can provide a chorus of news and opinion.

In my estimation, parts of that vision are indeed attractive. The more information that is available, the greater one’s ability to gather multiple viewpoints and hunt for related news items.

For populists, something is attractive about being able to assemble one’s own news and information without the barrier of decisions made without one’s knowledge by publishers and editors. What qualifications do publishers and editors inherently have, after all, in an industry that is as unlicensed and unregulated as journalism?

Any answer I give to that question would be a self-serving one. An honest answer is that reading and writing are basic skills shared by all of us, so while a few of the news and advertising skills that editors and publishers possess are learned in the classroom, beyond that they are learned mostly by experience. (And I’m sure there are readers who can vouch that I have had to learn by my mistakes on the job a few times.)

As imperfect as the traditional publishing and news gathering processes are, publishers with an established reputation and physical assets to protect still play a vital role. Foremost among these is as a filter of news and claims made by those who wish to be seen as newsworthy. Bloggers operating semi-anonymously may choose to conduct themselves with these long-term goals (the establishment of a reputation for accuracy and an eye on building a business) in mind—or they may not.

In parts of the world under-served by the traditional media or faced with one-sided government-controlled news, bloggers have filled the void. In some cases, blogs that help citizens discover what’s being hidden by their government can be heroic. But in other cases, blogging has led to fabulous tales and conspiracy theories that sizable segments of an information-starved public seem to accept as reasonable.

Trade publishing would not seem to offer such a bleak scenario of a future with no information vs. skewed information. But readers of our magazines and Web sites may wonder whether trade publishers see a role for our services in the future.

I do, and it is not that different from that of a referee in a ballgame. Good referees, it is often said, go unnoticed. Similarly, good trade publishers provide logic filters and news priority guidance in such a subtle way that it’s barely noticed. Even in a world with multiple information sources, taking part in a league with an agreed upon set of rules can be preferable to one where no one is really sure which rules are being enforced.