Is this the end of news?

In the October 2007 issue of Vanity Fair, Michael Wolff writes about his experiences developing Newser.com, a site that claims to deliver “faster, smarter news.” Obvious plug for the site notwithstanding, Wolff makes some interesting observations about news audiences, and how current behaviour and technology could define the next big thing in news.

The news is technologically obsolete—information envelops us, competing for our attention, hence fewer and fewer people (read: younger people) feel any need to seek it out.

Rather than the front page, the “new news” metaphor is a complex matrix of information that people float through, absorbing information along the way. The secret to success as a news presenter, in his mind, lies in the right algorithm.