In an age where digital media is the largest form of consumption for the general population, is traditional print journalism still relevant or is it going to fade away to make space for the newer forms of journalism?
The progression in technology in the last few years is amazing, if something happens you will be able to find out in minutes as opposed to having to wait until the story gets sent to print, you can press send to a Twitter account, your personal blog, or even your Facebook account and have the story seen by hundreds of people.
Everyone has access to some type of electronic device now, whether it be a smartphone, a tablet or a laptop. All of these make for easy communication. This is not limited to certain types of news, local stories, global news and celebrity gossip all can end up online for the masses to see.
Journalism students, despite whatever field of journalism they aspire to go into once they complete their course, will learn different types of journalism (print, online, broadcast etc.) We learn to use to resources available to help further our output of stories we write about.
Benefits to Online Journalism
There are many benefits to using the online journalism resources available, I'm taking advantage of the resources right now!
Blogs can be considered a form of journalism, whilst my blog may not be hard hitting news, it is an example of journalism, and I am using the journalistic skills that I am being taught in my classes to make sure my blog is as accurate and well laid out as it can be.
For publishers using the online resources available is much easier as they do not have to pay for the actual printing process, they simply have to type and upload.
Changes in Consumption
The way media is consumed is very different to how it was 30 years ago, now many people find out stories from various online platforms; websites, apps, using their phones/tablets. In the past the only ways to get your news stories would be through the newspaper or your 6 o'clock news.
In this current time I believe print journalism is still needed, if you take into account the amount of elderly citizens that currently exist in the UK, after WWII there was a baby boom causing our elderly population to be large, many of these people will be so use to things such as newspapers and magazines and will feel no need to adjust their media consumption habits, especially when the way they are use to still proves to work.
The progression of media consumption, however can be considered a very good thing and the difference between the ages is very obvious. I am able to take in my news using all the resources available whether it be from a newspaper or using my BBC news app, but this is because I have grown up and have been taught to use computers etc from a young age so when iOS apps were introduced to me I was easily able to adjust. My younger brother is able to use tablets, iPads and computers at the young age of 7 and he has never struggled because in schools now it is a primary way of teaching.
Ethics: How important are they?
How important are ethics for journalists?
Extremely important. Ethics are something that morally we should all have, journalists deal with a range of topics many of which can be personal and taboo subjects to handle and if a journalist suffers from a lack of ethics it can prove very damaging not only to the person being written about but also for the journalist themselves and whoever publishes the story.
Journalists have a duty to report news that is of public concern but that should not mean you have to slander a person or drag their name through the dirt bringing up personal issues that have no relevance to the story. If you are writing about a story which is very volatile, as a journalist you should know better than to include information that could put you as the journalist in trouble and potentially defame the person in question or even put them in legal trouble.
Are journalists still needed?
It seems that anyone believes if they have access to some type of social media platform and new information they can be classed a journalist, that is not actually the case. Journalists do have to be trained and take classes on many things. Trained journalists will be aware of the risks that come with printing certain stories and a regular person with perhaps a passion for "journalism" may not be aware, they also are less likely to be prosecuted as opposed to a journalist who is working for a company or a publisher.
I believe journalists are still needed(and that's not because I'd be wasting my time with this course if they weren't.) People rely on journalists as reliable sources and they always will, you will always trust a doctor or a nurse more than you will trust Google or Yahoo Answers, so why would you believe a 2 bit blogger as opposed to a credited journalist with a history of well resourced stories and solid information?
Issues for Journalists
Law is a large part of a journalist's work as they always have to take the law into consideration before printing stories, putting out a story that is false or has inaccurate information is embarrassing enough, you would have to publish a following article apologising and admitting to the fact your first story was wrong, making you lose your credibility. On top of that you could be sued or fined for inaccurate publications or breaching the implied ( the two very popular tabloids, The Daily Mirror and The Sun were fined for publishing articles about the arrest Christopher Jefferies, causing speculation that he was the killer of his tenant Joanna Yeates., despite the fact he was released and was innocent of any involvement in the case, both tabloids both tarnished his reputation and suffered from this.
Despite the changes that have occurred in the past and the many that are very likely to occur in the future I do not believe that traditional journalism will die out, too many people are use to the way it is set up and many people simply enjoy how traditional it is. Reading your evening paper on the train on the way back from work is something that is so expected just because some people now read their news on their tablets or iPhones that does not mean others will conform to the social expectation of having to "keep up with the times."
Ren x
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