There are thousands of news sources out there, all reporting on roughly the same news with their own slant. Sure, some are specialized like financial news sources, but all financial news sources are still reporting on the same events. If there are so many television channels, websites, radio shows, and newspapers all devoted to the same news, it must be worthwhile to add a new one with a slightly different twist.
As I researched posts for this website, it has become obvious that the same trendy stories run within a few days of each other on multiple news websites. If the story runs at the same time, they all report the same information. Even worse, since they already reported the story, they don’t revisit it again – they don’t update the information as time goes on. Doesn’t anybody notice this? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills! Here is my idea: a news website that tracks these trendy news stories and provides updates in the following months and years. A cross between the real-time information of the internet age and “where are they now” (which everyone loves).
Let me provide some examples to reinforce the value of this “new old news” website (I am going to have to trademark that term). I posted about some places in Europe linking speeding ticket fines to the driver’s wealth. If you do a google search for this information, the majority of the results fall between January 7th and 12th 2010. Are more people receiving outrageous tickets? What is the current record ticket amount? Outsourcing drive thru – March 2005 and April 2006. How did those experiments work out? Did they expand the program or shut it down? Smoking two year old – May 27th, 2010 and November 5, 2010. Is this the last we will here about him? Does he have emphysema yet?
Stories change over time – they are alive. The stale information on news websites quickly becomes dated. We need a news service that is committed to keeping tabs on these old stories so that we always have the latest information. Will you create this for me?
I have been thinking about this idea for a while now, but hadn’t put my thoughts down on the web (or paper). It was recently brought to the front of my mind when I was looking through the search engine traffic that brings people to Pedantic Posts. One was for “outsourcing drive thru 2010” – exactly what this idea is all about!
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Photo: ShironekoEuro