More news aggregation

Apparently what the world really needs is yet another general news aggregator. So here it is.

Newser (for such is the new site called) is actually pretty well executed from a design and presentation point of view with a clean, pictorial interface that lets you see at a glance the main stories as selected by Newser's proprietary algorithm. What isn't clear is what problem this lovely interface solves. Both Freakonomics and Paidcontent say it makes browsing the news more efficient. If that is the key benefit I'd raise a note of caution over the implication that what news browsing currently most lacks is efficiency. A glance at the front page of Yahoo! News, Google news or Drudge provides a succinct overview of the day's main events and with e.g. Lovelace for media or Techmeme for technology we're far from lacking for efficient ways to browse more vertical/specialist news either.

Possibly this emphasis on the interface makes Newser another example of what The Register's Andrew Orlowski calls "presentation layer people trying to solve infrastructure layer problems" - I get no sense that the site is designed to  make it easier for each visitor to find the news that's individually relevant to them, making this ultimately a revival of the newspaper/TV "one size fits all" approach to news.

Early days. Easy to be critical. All very true. But...Vin Crosbie's most recent manifesto on all that's wrong with the news industry - and has been wrong with it for thirty years, more than twice as long as the Internet has been there to blame for these woes - once more points out that the issue with online news is not at the presentation level but the content level. Lumping that content together in yet another new way - especially without any apparent attempt at personalisation or smart filtering for individual relevance - probably won't be the salvation of journalism in the information age.