Lindsay's Corner

Journalists in today’s social and technological landscapes are confronted with the notion of conforming to a multi-media career or possibly becoming lost in the bustle of new adaptations. While the diverse knowledge needed may seem daunting to many journalists both new and old, I think we are steadily advancing on a landscape of the future in which multi-skilled journalists are necessary. I don’t consider this new frontier as a threat to my success, but rather as an opportunity to improve myself as a professional journalist. If journalists are able to perform many, if not all, of the necessary tasks it will create more efficiency in the industry and hopefully, more effectiveness. I see these transitions from print to multi-media, and from a single specialty task to multiple capabilities as a progressive movement in the journalism industry.  In addition to journalists becoming more tech-savvy and updated, journalism itself is adapting to and becoming increasingly more dependent on advances in technology.

Considering the fact that journalism is already relying so heavily on modern technologies and the most recent social networking tools, I think we can assume that it is becoming, and one day will be, an industry communicated and distributed entirely through the Internet and technological devices.  I do think print journalism will one day become obsolete.  The generations that still prefer print journalism are among the older population; they like the tangibility of holding a newspaper or journalistic magazine in their hands and sitting with it for hours.  However, the younger generations, such as Generation X and Generation Y have grown up using the most innovative technologies, so they prefer to acquire information via the Internet, social networking tools, smart phones, etc.  This is important because as long as the current generations keep technology flourishing and advancing by constantly using it and demanding more, journalism, as with all other industries, will have to evolve with the changes.

Therefore, I think it will be common to see technologies resembling newspapers and magazines, but they will be similar to today’s electronic books.  These “e-readers” will be easily transported and stored, not like a bulky lap top.  In this way, print journalism will exist on some level, but through an innovate technology that resembles something familiar to the general population.  This is merely one of the possibilities for where journalism is headed in the future.

While new technologies and tools are changing the design of journalism and forcing journalists to evolve, I also think citizen journalism will become more and more common.  Social networking tools enable everyone to self-publish, and that is exactly what the general population are doing now.  People have found a way to publicly write about whatever they want without having to pay to have their opinions publicized.  Now, citizens can publish via blogs, MySpace, Twitter, magazines such as Reader’s Digest, etc.  I think journalism may reach a point where citizens are contributing to the news and events as much as professional journalists, but I do not think one will wholly replace the other.  It is interesting to me to think that one day the news may be a collaboration of works written by everyday people and professionals.  This could change journalism’s composition and purpose entirely.  Everyone will advocate for themselves by writing what they choose and what concerns them personally, including a great deal of opinion writing where in opposition, journalistic writing is supposed to be free of bias and report the news.  This is not to say it will be better or worse, but the impact will most likely be dramatic.

In conclusion, I do not think journalism or journalists are in any danger of extinction or that their futures are bleak.  People will always desire and seek out a news source.  But I do think it is evolving from print to multi-media and with it journalists must adapt to new technologies and diversify their skills.  I am excited to see what is laying in wait for the future of journalism.

Share This

Post a comment

Name: (required)

Email Address: (will not be published) (required)

URL:

Comments:

Click to cancel reply