First, I want to express very clearly at start of this post that I’m all for RSS, and the linear way in which news is delivered via the medium. It’s convenient and efficient, and makes the browsing experience easy. Super easy. Super simple, some might say.
That said, the format that befits RSS is not the be-all and end-all of news consumption. Nor should it be. Why? Because it sacrifices editorial contextualization. Everything delivered via RSS is given equal opportunity, and if a purely vertical feed of news is the option offered to the reader, that option is devoid of much original subjectiveness. And that wouldn’t be particularly beneficial to the average reader. Subjectiveness on the part of news outlets is basically what differentiates one from the other.
The reason why I address this topic today is that Dave Winer, of RSS fame (among other things) said recently that the traditional front page is out and the columnized post roll is in, and that the new format should be adopted by news companies big and small. He exemplifies the New Orleans Times-Picayune in the time of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe as a model of efficiency and post-dead-tree thinking. And…well…I don’t quite agree with that assessment. (more…)