We Media culture presents a tremendous opportunity

A new We Media/Zogby Interactive poll should be another one of those wake-up calls for us in American journalism.

The good news: Americans believe journalism is important. The bad news: They don’t like or trust the journalism in their communities.

While the news appears to be split, it offers a tremendous possibility in what I, and others maybe, like to call the We Media era.

Here’s the bad news: The survey found that 64 percent are dissatisfied with the quality of journalism in their communities and 67 percent believe traditional journalism is out of touch with what Americans want from their news.

Here’s the good news: 55 percent say bloggers are important to the future of news, 74 percent say citizen journalist will play a vital role in the future and 70 percent think journalism is important to the quality of life in their communities.

Here’s the opportunity: 48 percent say their primary source of news and information is the Internet and 86 percent said Web sites were an important source of news.

But for the We Media culture a tremendous opportunity emerges – not only to produce better and more trusted journalism but to build better communities around it.

Author: Jason Kristufek