OJR (Mark Glaser) asked a select panel of longtime Netizens to share their thoughts on where Web journalism has been, and where it’s likely to go. Responses when asked about the most important new development in online journalism:
Winer: RSS. Because it levels the field. On the same page I read reports from BBC, The New York Times and my favorite Weblogs. I’m not more impressed by Glenn Fleishman, for example, when he writes for his Weblog, or when he writes for The New York Times. It makes online journalism more competitive and it desperately needs more competition.
Gwertzman: The ease of browsers receiving news, and the smooth insert of multimedia into the news coverage. The advent of broadband everywhere means that it is so easy to receive news that it is revolutionizing the news business.
Newmark: Some of the group blogging and discussion mechanisms, like MetaFilter and Slashdot, but they’re all in their infancy. I do agree that image-enabled mobile phones will become important, but filtering is the biggest deal in this area.
Battelle: The resurgence of advertising revenue to the Internet content model. It will allow journalists to once again innovate online.