PressEthic

If you logged on to MySpace last week, chances are that your entry would have been interrupted by a page for the Rock for Darfur campaign, advertising the various concerts that took place around the United States on October 21. Before you had a chance to "skip" on to your active online social life, however, you might well have been halted by a familiar voice.

The page automatically streamed part of the video report made last spring by George Clooney and his father, Nick Clooney, from the Chad-Darfur border. Where the average MySpacer had come to look at friends' photos and read personal flirtatious comments, there were interviews with emaciated refugees who told stories of destruction, rape, and murder.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the irritating and threatening way that advertisments are not only pushing news off the page, but are also literally getting in front of the headlines. This week, however, MySpace (of all things) reminded me that news can also elbow its way to the front.

Admittedly, in this case, it's not exactly news: it's an ongoing humanitarian campaign. (And the report's already six months old.) Nevertheless, an urgent current issue was communicated to a vast and youthful audience, using an unconventional format from within an unusual forum.

Interrupting MySpace account login is probably too expensive a solution for struggling news networks desperate to attract young readers. Taking a creative approach in the online world beyond the news website, however, could be the way to go.