Technology is killing the traditional press.
Information is being transmitted too fast for the modern media, as an organisation, to compete with all people.
People do not require a reporter, an editor or a publisher. people do not require permission, editorial guidelines and many other factors that restrict the traditional news media.
And, news has become unreliable.
Everyone on the planet heard about the lady dentist that pulled all the teeth of her ex boyfriend?
It was a hoax. Fake. Not real and it was reported by almost every news publication in the world.
The problem is that the press still informs our opinions. For example, we do not question that General Mdluli is completely innocent (Doubtful, but still possible. I also believe in the tooth fairy and Santa, this is my right!) The fact is though, that Adv Faith Radebe is the person that is really investigating Mdluli, (and according to her office she in fact is still busy doing this), She has not issued any statement or report yet and the HAWKS are either seeking publicity or the prosecutor is overcompensating for something. Fact is that I am a believer in Martino, the magician, (kul jou hier, kul jou daar). Whilst we are looking over here, something is going down over there. So just what are the HAWKS and their prosecutor up to?
The facts also are that this desperation by the traditional press and desperate quest for sensation and attention is making them do un-traditional things. Spread lies and untruths. What do they have to say for themselves? Oh, sorry about that. We did not investigate the fake dentist story before publishing it as NEWS. And the Mdluli affair? Why not wait for Adv Radebe’s report?
The time is coming when traditional media is going to be replaced by citizen bloggers, new media houses, people with hoodies and news content providers. The citizen reporters will investigate, followup and generate content and the traditional media houses will cease to exist in there present form.