Jeff Jarvis: Skip the Conventions, You Ego-Fueled Drones

If you’re one of the 15,000 journos heading to Denver or St. Paul in the coming weeks, media pundit Jeff Jarvis says you’re only going there to feed your ego–or at least the ego of your big boss. 

That’s it, pure and simple: Our man in Denver. Instead of your woman. It’s for bylines, bylines the public couldn’t care less about. The coverage will be no different outlet to outlet. We can watch it all ourselves on C-SPAN.

The conventions aren’t news. Anymore they are only staged events to get media coverage. And it works. But it’s not for the public good that they’re covered. 

Jarvis says those reporters would better serve their readers and viewers much closer to home.

As news organizations dwindle, this is an irresponsible use of resources and it only shows how the industry’s leaders are tied to doing things the way they always did them. That’s what will be the death of journalism. 

We actually have a story on what the stations in Denver and Minneapolis are doing to cover the conventions, and how several are pressed to create content for multiple platforms without many extra bodies. It’s out Monday.