TCTI: Too Crazy Too Ignore
 Dave Ross
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Alex Alben, an intellectual property lawyer in Seattle, worries about digital news replacing analog news. (AP Photo)

Do you trust that digital device?

BY Dave Ross  on December 7, 2012 @ 9:41 am (Updated: 2:31 pm - 12/7/12 )

More and more people get their news relayed by friends. The social news cycle is 24/7.

"The number of people who told me that the kids were texting during Thanksgiving dinner I think was hitting a record this year."

Alex Alben is an intellectual property lawyer in Seattle, he's testified before Congress on Internet piracy and is certainly no Luddite. But in his book Analog Days he worries about digital news replacing analog news.

"When you look for digital information, you have to enter in the search phrase and have an idea, but when you are flipping through a newspaper or rows of a library, there's a sense of discovery."

In the old analog world, you were exposed to stories you would never even think to search for, gathered by institutions that had a face, not just a web page.

Alben's first job was as a researcher for Walter Cronkite.

"There was a most trusted man, Walter Cronkite, who had earned this over a career and it was built by this institution, CBS, that really took journalism seriously as a mission to tell the American people, in a balanced and carefully researched way, everyday what happened in the world."

"If a reporter got something wrong, there were consequences," remembers Dave.

"Right, they were fired. Today, it's all opinion, so you really can't be wrong."

Well of course opinions can be wrong, but as long they're controversial and get an audience, they can spread just as as anything broadcast on a network.

Alex Alben's book is called Analog Days; How Technology Rewrote Our Future.

Dave Ross, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
Dave Ross is co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 9-Noon) and never too far from the spotlight.
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Comments (15)


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  • mnpat wrote...
    KIRO in a nutshell
    December 7, 2012 1:58 pm
    Not much news but a cornocopia of opinion
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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Digital news can't possibly be any more abused or manipulated
    December 7, 2012 2:38 pm
    that that delivered by those technologies invented by Marconi and Guttenberg.

    If you "trust" any single source of news you're a sheep or a fool. Maybe both, a foolish sheep.

    The saddest examples of all, (and they represent a significant minority if not a majority of Americans now), are the folks who know full well from the get go that their news source is biased as Hades but they decide to pretend it's credible simply because it reflects their own preconceptions and prejudices.

    Which news source do we want to believe? The one that tells us what we want to hear.

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  • ron prevost wrote...
    and would that biased as Hades news source be NBC or CBS ?
    December 8, 2012 10:03 am
    Just because YOU agree with their presentation does not mean network news does not have a slant. And CNN is as biases as you presume FOX to be. ... It's not sad, but it does mean you need multiple sources for news.

    Just like 105 years ago when EVERY crusading newspaper presented THEIR version of the news and there was no pretense of being 'fair' or 'balanced'.

    For me, I gave up on televised news rears ago and garner what can get from as many radio stations as possible. Radio can still be biased, but most are not concerned with their image.

    As for social media news? Ultimately not much different than talking at the corner bar or gabbing after church. ..............But you are right, Chuck. We believe what we want to believe. And most don't want to think.

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  • ron prevost wrote...
    typo (you know me and math)
    December 8, 2012 3:11 pm
    should have been 150 years ago.

    Actually from the 1850's to the turn of the 20th century.

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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Ron, you apparently struggle with more than math
    December 9, 2012 10:00 am
    Why would you challenge me for defending network news? I did no such thing. Nor do you have any basis for stating "just because YOU" (meaning me)"agree with their presentation..."

    Sometimes I think it would be best if news sources were required to run sort of a warning label. Example: MSNBC could use, "Whatever we report will be presented in a way that makes any progressive idea look attractive, any conservative idea seem ridiculous, and people who hold conservative ideas look like idiots."

    And of course Fox would use: "Whatever we report will be presented in a way that makes conservative philosophies and values appear to be the only possible choice for any thinking, God fearing, patriotic American. We will flagrantly denigrate any idea not deemed sufficiently conservative, and question the intelligence as well as the loyalties of any American who dares express an insufficiently conservative idea."

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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Chuck, my allusion to you defending the networks (who certainly DO have a political bent) was somewhat tongue in cheek - BUT.........
    December 9, 2012 10:57 am
    there are many on the left who BELIEVE Your third paragraph. That FOX is presumed to have ALL of THEIR news slanted. ... While there is a bent, it certainly is no more than NBC and perhaps a lot less bias than CNN('thrills up my leg').

    Not to defend FOX, but it's straight new coverage about 5AM to 5PM. Thereafter, starting with O'Reilly, its admitted COMMENTARY. ..... Yet when most of the left attacks FOX, it's Hannety, et al they attack - confusing those commentary shows with news. Be like calling Anderson Cooper a 'reporter'.

    None the less, that does get back to MY point that multiple sources should be available and viewed in order to form a reasonable personal opinion. ... We have such a choice today, something not available in the 1950s when we had ONLY the networks, fed by Reuters, and such. ..... And a lot more than in 1898 when we were force fed a war with Spain, true or not.

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  • ron prevost wrote...
    PS - additional to Radio news, I read at least 3 news papers before 6AM.
    December 9, 2012 11:43 am
    Then do try for a couple more on line 'papers'.

    All TV 'NEWS' is more entertainment than news.

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  • maplefish wrote...
    What's really sad
    December 8, 2012 10:23 am
    Is the fact that a majority of college kids get their news through "John Stewart" & Steven Colbert". Funny guys but its not news.
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  • R L M 456 wrote...
    Want to know what tomorrows MyNorthwest.com Headline will be?
    December 8, 2012 4:28 pm
    simply look at AOL.com today

    MyNorthwest is the master of "Cut and Paste"

    yup- great journalism here

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