The premise behind this session is to discuss the creation of a smaller, more flexible company that could out preform major players by giving a customizable user experience and perhaps offering media that is backed by people you trust. To build such a source of journalism wouldn’t be hard, it would just take a few people aggregating and offering in different ways. Ways more in tune to our rapidly changing society’s idea of media and need for the social factor.

But as I listened to this session, I began to make the connection between an audio book I had been listening to and the way journalism appeared to be trending. In ‘Outliers,’ by Malcolm Gladwell, he describes how in the 50′s and 60′s the old boys network of lawyers in New York City descriminated against Jewish lawyers, not extending jobs in their prestigious law firms to them. So these lawyers were forced to go out on their own and practice any law that came to them. During this time, it was socially unfashionable for lawyers to be associated with corporate takeovers, so the big companies didn’t handle them. However, these Jewish lawyers had to accept this work, and became very good at arguing this trade. Then the 1970′s came about and what was once socially incorrect became the standard. These Jewish lawyers suddenly had the skills desired by the professional world. I believe we could be seeing a similar trend right now with journalism.

If we look at the big media corporations they want to feed us the news in a way they think we are fit to receive it. But the world is changing, and our ideals will change faster than they are willing to. I believe eventually we, as a majority of society, will desire a more social and independent source of media that we can relate with. If one would jump onto this breaking wave now, they could ride out and create the new world of journalism as we will perceive it.