The disconnect and the out-of-date

If there's one thing I've noticed about journalism lately, it is the general disconnect there can be between institutions.

What do I mean by that?

Well, here's an example. I was doing a story about the revamped transit system on the UNH campus. When I clicked on the UNH Mobile application on my smartphone, there is a news section. Available under the news module are three news sources.

Under the 'news' module on the UNH Mobile app.

Now, you can see that the news sources don't include The New Hampshire newspaper. It's kind of odd, don't you think? The student-run newspaper, the one source that students are involved in, does not appear in the UNH Mobile app for students and faculty.

My point is not to highlight any problems with the set up (I happen to know the very valid reason why the TNH app is not under the news module) but to highlight the general disconnect between the journalism world and technological world.

Maybe it's just me, but journalists cannot survive in a world where there is not enough connection to the general public. It needs to be more user friendly. Does that mean it has to be more technological? No, of course not. If you can think of a better way, then by all means!

I simply wish to highlight the need that journalists need with the public. There needs to be a genuine connection. And I'm starting to think that the genuine connection might come in more honest terms, as well.

Maybe instead of top news sources saying, "We're so sorry for the misprint or for tweeting that too fast, we made such a huge mistake!", reporters could slow down. They could wait to make sure they've got it right. And when (not if) they mess up, they can then say, "Hey, we're sorry if you feel misled. We're doing the best we can, and we're human just like you."

It's almost as if people expect journalists to be robotic -- to take in the purest information and only put it out as such. Well, that's not the case. There's a general disconnect between technology users, news consumers, companies, and reporters.

While I'm not sure how to bridge those gaps, or how to make those connections more genuine and worthy of consumption, I do believe that the first step is identifying where those gaps are and then grabbing some duct tape.