If you haven't read this long but interesting piece in the NYT, please do. It's an interesting perspective on where journalism is and where one person believes it should be.

Bu the debate ignores one important point --- there's room for both perspectives. Journalism has devolved into three parts --- core, advocacy and opinionated explanation. The big issue --- the last two tend to contain a skewed point of view.

 Arguing that POV journalism is the future ignores the problems such a position creates. News stories should explain, but when they explain from the author's viewpoint they're no longer news stories. They become Fox or MSNBC, providing little more than biased spin.

There needs to be a clear delineation so readers know what they're getting. With so may pretend journalists nowadays, readers need to understand who's trained and trusted. Just because I can cook a burger doesn't make me a chef. Just because someone has a view on the affordable care act doesn't make them a journalist. 

Read the piece and see what you think.

Applauze is an entertainment app that has raise $7.2M in less than a year. That's a lot of money for an app in a very competitive space. But when you read this story, you can see why the app as been so successful, at least early on. It's not the data that's the draw --- it's the data analysis and predictive learning. Since Applauze analyzes every swipe, it makes it easier for the company to predict what its users want. It used to be that simply having the data was good enough. It's not anymore. Analyzing the data and predicting user behavior is far more important.,

It's time to determine who is --- and isn't a journalist.
This article is interesting but misses the point. Saying that you can put together roses in a vase doesn't make you a florist; writing doesn't make you a journalist, and producing content doesn't make you a reporter. Journalists have specific skills that include the ability to analyze complex data, ask probing and difficult questions, understand public records and libel law and have at-the-ready sources that can help make unbiased sense of difficult issues. For years, I was among those who was vociferously against any attempt to define what a journalist is. But now, with so many "journalists" coming out of the woodwork, I've changed my mind.