We’re used to hearing how everything is aggregating, that the way the industry is moving is to aggregate. There’s no other way, lets just make one giant news service that serves everyone (sounds a bit like the Murdoch empire).
But there is hope!
We have seen niche sites targetting specific audiences with news solely for that market but a clever little journalist called Lara Setrakian decided to tell her stories of Syria on a newsite.
Typical Syria Deeply website page
The website is called Syria Deeply and allows all stories of Syria to be published. Not just what the news organisation wants but what the journalist deems important.
These sites are really important in a news industry where too much is bundled together thus creating stories that are all so similar. From one newspaper to the next there is a definite pattern in the stories as it is only the top news that makes it. But in times of war and political unrest it is the off-beat stories that captivate us the most and deliever us the real understanding of what is really going on.
The Syria Deeply website says that “By mixing user generated content with the insight and oversight of seasoned journalists, we merge the power of citizen journalism with the standards of the professional press.”
That is what makes this site quite different as a lot of niche sites seem to end up more citizen journalism which although can be of good quality, often lacks the journalistic edge.
Journalism 24/7 