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The media becomes an activist for democracy
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May 7, 2012, 10:21 a.m.
Audience & Social
LINK: jonsteinberg.com  ➚   |   Posted by: Joshua Benton   |   May 7, 2012

That’s Buzzfeed’s claim, from founder Jonah Peretti as echoed here by Buzzfeed president Jon Steinberg. The argument is that we like to intermingle our streams of information — to be talking about the news one minute, philosophy the next, our last meal the next.

It’s why BuzzFeed can tangle with the White House, on the same day as having the great memey post 23 Reasons Why May Is Going To Be The Best Month Ever. We think people want a mix of all different types of social content, and we think an intermingling, organized by social, is what makes the most sense in today’s world. And the Facebook newsfeed and the Twitter feed, prove that in the social era you consume content like you sit at the Paris Cafe…

The newsfeed changes everything — it’s multifaceted, social, and fast — and that’s why social publishing is so different from traditional publishing. In fact, it resembles the Paris cafe more than it does the newspapers we grew up with.

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The media becomes an activist for democracy
“We cannot be neutral about this, by definition. A free press that doesn’t agitate for democracy is an oxymoron.”
Embracing influencers as allies
“News organizations will increasingly rely on digital creators not just as amplifiers but as integral partners in storytelling.”
Action over analysis
“We’ve overindexed on problem articulation, to the point of problem admiring. The risk is that we are analyzing ourselves into inaction and irrelevance.”