21st Century Journalism

21st Century Journalism

The rapid changes taking place within this technological age have significantly impacted our culture, the way we interact with our devices, and one another. Social media apps have created a space for consumers to network globally and engage within the participatory culture. The engagement comes in the form of videos, photos, status updates, tweets, live feeds, and gifs. The consequence of our newly hyperconnected world has drastically affected the media industry. The mobile industry has changed the way journalists collect their stories, how consumers prefer to view their content, and how journalism is being taught in the classroom. 

The mobile industry has caused journalists to develop new strategies when capturing stories. Live feeds from people’s mobile devices via social media apps has changed the narrative and process of acquiring it. Anyone can become a “field reporter” by simply recording and sharing what they see in the moment. This has led the audience to provide the inside scoop quicker than journalists. In turn, journalists are leveraging social media to acquire and get the details on stories instead of doing the investigative work and then writing articles. “Convergence acknowledges that news consumers are gaining more control of the news process” (Kolodzy, 2013). Because media is constantly being shared every second, waiting for the more traditional avenues of news sharing are becoming obsolete. 

The convenience of having access to so much information in the palm of your hand has altered how much people are relying on their mobile devices for news. “About seven-in-ten adults ages 18 to 29 (71%) often get news on a mobile device, compared with 37% of those ages 65 or older” (Fedeli and Matsa, 2018). Journalists trying to keep up with covering the story first and producing accurate information has become a new sort of race amongst journalists. “Convergence is about being flexible enough to provide news and information to anyone and everyone, anytime and all the time, anywhere and often everywhere without abandoning key journalistic values” (Kolodzy, 2013). This new approach to journalism will become the new normal and taught to aspiring journalists in the classroom. 

Different skills will be required to be an asset in convergence-oriented newsrooms. Creating relationships with sources with accurate information, being able to fact check your sources on each story, knowing how to credit your social media sources, and working with a team to approach each story will be the new reality of the journalistic workplace. We are moving away from printed newspapers and newsletters and watching less cable television. Instead we are turning to our apps for all of our news. It will be dependent on the companies to stay relevant and adaptable to the evolution of technological developments.

Video: How Social Media is Changing Journalism

This video is a part of a YouTube series from The Atlantic called The Big Question. The big question in this discussion is how social media is changing journalism. A producer, journalist, and editor take a few moments to broadly discuss the ways in which social media has changed the journalistic landscape.

Video: How the 21st Century Changed Journalism 

In this video Digital Journalist, Tim Pool, is interviewed by Jules Suzdaltsev from NowThis World News. He discusses how the field of journalism has shifted now that everyone can become an eye witness journalist. Pool also discusses two downfalls of digital journalism. 

References 

Fedeli, S., & Matsa, K. (2019). Use of smartphones or tablets to get news grows again in 2017 in U.S. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/07/17/use-of-mobile-devices-for-news-continues-to-grow-outpacing-desktops-and-laptops/

How Is Social Media Changing Journalism?. (2014). Retrieved from https://youtu.be/-7esKJDZqzQ

How The 21st Century Changed Journalism. (2015). Retrieved from https://youtu.be/rmFlKKOKenw

Kolodzy, J. (2013). Practicing convergence journalism an introduction to cross-media storytelling. New York (N.Y.): Routledge.