Call For An Open Innovation Project: "Liquid Newsroom". Join?

I usually start my day browsing through news sources of interest. I enjoy it to follow up on new developments which refer to the future of journalism. It's a hunger very hard to still. I never visit only one news portal alone, in fact I'm used to walk around and to be highly selective. I always try to gain an overview about topics which are important for me. But sometimes it is really frustrating, especially if it  that many headlines only seem to copy what was already written elsewhere. What make this article unique? What insights will I get, when I dig deeper?

 

One of the headlines today was:  "CNN Makes It Official: Piers Morgan Will Replace Larry King - CNN said Wednesday that Piers Morgan would take over for Larry King next January, putting an end to speculation about one of the most prized time slots in television.  —  Mr. Morgan, the British-born journalist and talent show judge … " written by Brian Shelter, Media Decoder.

 

But he was not the only one to write about that news. More journalists picked up the story as well: (provided by Mediagazer.com:) 

Hunter Walker / The Wrap:   Piers Morgan Has a ‘Multi-Year’ Deal With CNN

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:   CNN says Morgan will take over for King in January

Steve Krakauer / Mediaite:   Piers Morgan Tells Mediaite His Competition Is “Self-Indulgent” …

New York Observer:   Look What the Web Dragged In: Manly Dancing and More Restoring Truthiness

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:   CNN Finally Announces Piers Morgan As Larry King's Replacement Eons …

James Poniewozik / Tuned In:   CNN, Piers Morgan Make It Official

Keach Hagey / On Media's Blog:   Piers Morgan to replace Larry King

The Huffington Post:   Piers Morgan To Host CNN Interview Show Starting In January

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:   CNN confirms Piers Morgan signing to replace Larry King

PopEater:   It's Official: Piers Morgan to Replace Larry King

 

Would it make sense to read all the articles? Will they tell me the same story over and over again? What would I miss if I only read the news at my favourite news site?

 

The idea of the Liquid Newsroom was born out of a desire to solve my demand for guidance through an endless stream of news. The Liquid Newsroom is a place for curative journalism.

 

At the current stage of idea development I wouldn't believe it to be a place for breaking news. News will break elsewhere. But the Liquid Newsroom is the 1st place people will go to get a quick overview about the explosion of information after news break. It will provide with summarized information linking to the original sources and therefore giving credit to those who were first or those who added something substantial new to help people to gain a clearer picture of something of interest.

 

Why "Liquid"? – Designers know the term "liquid design". A (screen) design is "liquid" if it is not determined. Width and height changes if people change the browser size. I found the term "liquid" to be very powerful in the context of news either. I think of this newsroom to be liquid in the sense that it will not be managed by a publisher but by the journalists themselves.

That was one of the reasons I decided to make that platform development process public to allow people to join and to talk about their insights and ideas. So please feel invited to contribute if you like to. If you like to tweet about the subject use #liquidnews so that we can follow your ideas as well.

- Hope to connect to you soon!

Steffen

 

Comments

[Lisa]

I've always wanted this. I can't keep up when things break but it would be advantageous to have a news RSS > just a summary of facts. And I'd like to see follow ups > post breaking information since many times breaking is premature and not always as factual as the 20-20 view. Thanks, I hope this comes to fruition.

[binu karunakaran]

SwiftRiver; Managing News; Tattler App - these technologies could play a role in liquidnews. Thinking of employing them in a media watch environment

[Mary Sayler, National Writing Examiner]

Interesting concept - one that's certainly needed but the success of which will depend on balance (fairness in reporting both sides of a topic) and straight-forward presentation of facts, rather than opinions. Newspeople sometimes have an elevated opinion of themselves as those who must do our thinking for us when what we really need is fact and fairness and the freedom to figure things out, individually and collectively.

[Malcolm James Thomson]

Following developments with interest from Munich. 'Liquid Newsroom' seems to hold real promise.

[Roland Legrand]

wondering of course what the business model will be. Will we actually earn real money by participating?