What is the "new reality" of online news production, and how does it threaten quality?

Online portals demand a constant stream of news, so output rises — but the time to verify each item falls, and copying replaces original checking.

The economics of always-on news create pressure that erodes the very standards above:

• Portals must be fed continuously — there is always another slot to fill, around the clock.
• Output per journalist climbs to keep pace.
• The consequences are predictable: stories get copied and quoted from other outlets rather than independently reported, and there is often no time or ability to verify before publishing.

So the speed and volume the platform economy rewards directly undercut the two-source rule and the W-question discipline. A false claim, published once under deadline pressure, can be copied across dozens of sites before anyone checks it — at which point the error has its own momentum.