Even though many of the readings and videos for this week's assignment were somewhat depressing due to the realities of the journalism job market, I was satisfied when so many of them supported and expanded on what I have been writing about in these blog posts all semester: The Internet has developed journalism into a community effort.
Jack Shafer discussed in his article "Keeping the Fizz in the Journalism Biz" that Mark Sullivan, a journalist at the turn of the 20th century, saw value in technology in journalism. Shafer began his argument by observing that young journalists are like happy drunks while older journalists are sad or mean drunks. He then highlighted Sullivan's belief that journalists should always know how to do two tasks well: write and use new technology effectively. "It's the difference between digging ditches with a spade and excavating a canal with dynamite," Shafer said. Especially after taking Reporting and Fact Finding, I completely support this statement. Technology, though changing the world of journalism right now, has made it increasingly easier for journalists to consume and manipulate information. This same technology has also allowed for local publications and news media organizations to pop around around the country and globe, teaming up with each other through the Web. Shafer argues that this phenomenon has increased the competition in the journalism business, a phenomenon that, in the end, has always helped the business.
Since the conversation and community of journalism I've been thinking about all semester really does create a competition, I agree with Shafer that some healthy competition will at least keep the business afloat. This competition will most certainly help in the pursuit of truth, which is the goal of the field at its simplest anyway, says Kurt Anderson. And, as Sullivan said, two skills will help writers compete in this market: writing and technology skills.
By this same token, Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post encouraged universities to start fostering professional journalism outlets for students to gain experience in writing and technology. As a student in a journalism school that does this, I can speak from experience that the most learning I have done has been through these professional experiences.
John Nichols offered the strongest view in my opinion."Information cannot be paid," he said. "Information cannot be stopped." He also argued that journalism is dead without future intervention from the government. While I thought these views extreme, Nichols seemed very confident in them. They were kind of scary to think about, but at the same time it seemed as though he was simply trying to be honest. He argued that the Founding Fathers decided that the government could foster newspapers in order to foster democracy. While that did work in 1775, I don't think that system would be as successful today. The role of journalism is to search for truth, not be a proponent of what the government is doing.
Most of these journalists who are looking toward the future see local and even hyper-local journalism as the future of the institution. Mark Briggs believes that the future of news media and its interaction with readers is through the iPad. Vadim Lavrusik, however, believes it is through social media that journalism will continue.
In order to continue strongly through social media, journalism must undergo a paradigm shift, in my opinion.
"The future journalist will be more embedded with the community than ever," Lavrusik said, "and news outlets will build their newsrooms to focus on utilizing the community and enabling its members to be enrolled as correspondents." Journalists must be prepared to give up the editorial power to the community a little bit, or even a lot. The heavy use of social media even today has begun to inspire much more user-generated content than ever before. Individuals from different communities are coming together on the Internet and seeing what each other are doing. News media organizations in general are becoming more collaborative, which creates community within the physical area of where newspapers are located. "...journalists would be better suited by developing skills to fill the information gaps, offering broader perspective and context on the information, and fostering conversation around it," Lavrusik said. The news is now a conversation rather than a report. The Internet has enabled readers to respond immediately to news stories, and they do not want their voices ignored.
Other sites users can generate content on are Tumblr and Intersect. I have used Tumblr before both to write and to read, and I really enjoy it because of its usability. I didn't know what Intersect was until I read this article, and I immediately typed in my location to find stories near me. I was surprised when only two showed up, since Gainesville is such a community of journalists because of the college. Mobile phones are also making the consumption of news a social experience because of the cornucopia of applications available for smart phones. People can now walk and engage with the news at the same time.
In conclusion, after a long and laborious semester, Lavrusik said it best: "More newsrooms are hiring community engagers and social media producers."
Maybe now we can tell our professors that being on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr during class really is paying attention.
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