According to the article, Susan Mernit, a former executive at AOL is quoted as saying that "the psychology of surfers, who don't distinguish various trusted sources of news online, is helping to lower the value of breaking news. News is becoming less branded or the brands are becoming less distinguishable."

"Mernit believes the portals are driving down the value of hard news by making it part of a package that includes user-generated content and comments."

"In a way, part of the commoditization is that the news story in itself becomes less important," she said. "The idea of blogging or a vox populi, a voice of the people, is something that many portals are dealing with in their own way by giving readers opportunity to comment, by showing the most popular or linked to stories, by asking people to rate the story, or take a poll. News stories are becoming part of the package and that in turn diminishes their brand value."

Source Online Journalism Review