I don’t have a lot to add to this link, I just wanted to quote Ethan Zuckerman on virtual journalism, from a post about being interviewed for Pitchfork magazine:
The most interesting aspect of the discussion to me was the idea that Chris brought to the table – that we might pay more attention to imagined worlds than to the real one. First, this helped me understand precisely why I find the Second Life hype so disconcerting – I find it deeply odd that journalism is expanding into these illusory spaces (link to Reuters) while it’s shrinking in the real world. I think the answer may be that these new spaces – whether SecondLife, World of Warcraft, the culture of fanfiction or machinima – are far more coverable than many events in the real world. Chris uses an example I offered about the difficulty of finding out what’s what in Somalia – there are literally hundreds of situations in the globe where, despite political importance and the impact on human beings, we’ve got very little idea what’s actually going on. By contrast, virtual and pop-culture worlds are knowable in a deep, comprehensive, net-friendly and encyclopedic manner. That, plus fewer vaccinations, could make anyone want to be a virtual worlds correspondent rather than a real-world journalist.
Perhaps this is an answer to the eternal question of “Why oh why can’t we have a better press corps?” (tm- Brad DeLong).