New Media and the Transformation of Journalism and PR

In digital age, journalists have to fit their work on people requests.[i] As the journalism is clearly changed forever[ii], I read The Future of Journalism: Network Journalism (Van Der Haak, Parks, & Castells, 2012, pp. 292

3-2938) and Journalism in the Digital Age (Herbert, 2001, pp. 1-19) to understand this phenomenon.

For journalists, the technology development[iii] can be a threat as well as an opportunity. According to Van Der Haak, Parks and Castells (2012, pp. 2923-2927), the journalists’ crises derive from the audience’s choice to get in touch with the news online for free rather than pay for a printed newspaper.

However, being focused on the second side of this evolution, the journalism covered a wider area through online platforms, a trend more visible year by year. The feed-backs are easier to be heard, news is spread faster and audience’s opinions are available. Even the news are easier to be composed, images and texts being available on digital format. [iv] According to Herbert (2001, pp. 2-3) the Internet allows journalists to find more sources faster and it helps readers to pick their favourite topics easier.

Despite these facts, the crises will not affect the large public as long as professional journalists are open to new technology for informing the mass in the most right ways. However, for a journalist to reach the status of ‘professional’ he has to complete the three key functions: data collection, interpretation and storytelling. As information get more complex and sources are more and more various, journalists had to fit their job to present times, yet one more key function was added: distribution and the concept of collaboration was adopted in this field[v]. But one key aspect a journalist has to know is how technology works. He has to adapt his stories to software and to online sources.[vi]

Networked journalism is a concept that draws the circle cover in creating news. Journalists find stories online, dress them to be good material then, putting all the pieces together, the story comes out as their own material. The trend of Crowdsourcing and user-generated content is raised upon famous TV programmes and newspapers such as BBC or The Guardian[vii]. Through the journalists’ roles, there can also be depicted more titles: Data Mining, Data Analysis, Data Visualization and Mapping (deep research and analysis upon stories) , Visual Journalism (creating a story by videos), Point of View Journalism (different approaches and angles for the same story), Automated Journalism (crawler-type software robots) and Global Journalism (a wide-world coverage)[viii].

For a better academic understanding of the topic I would undertake an archive research in order to follow the journalists’ style development.

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Reference:

Herbert, J. (2001) Journalism in the Digital Age, Oxford: Focal Press

Long, P. and Wall, T. (2012) Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context, 2n dEdition, Essex: Pearson Education Limited

Van Der Haak, B., Parks, M. and Castelles, M. (2012) International Journal of Communication, Vol. 6, pp. 2923-2938

Bibliography:

Doctor, K. (2010) Newsonomics: Twelve New Trends That Will Shape the News You Get, New York: St. Martin’s Press

Herbert, J. (2001) Journalism in the Digital Age, Oxford: Focal Press

Long, P. and Wall, T. (2012) Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context, 2n dEdition, Essex: Pearson Education Limited

Van Der Haak, B., Parks, M. and Castelles, M. (2012) International Journal of Communication, Vol. 6, pp. 2923-2938

[i] ‘The Sun believes that the Internet is no longer for nerds and boffins, it is for ordinary people like you and us.’ (Herbert, 2001, p. 1)

[ii] Idea described in Lecture by Dr Ayo Oyeleye

[iii] There are two perspectives on technology and social change: technological determinism and social shaping of technology (outlined in Lecture by Dr Ayo Oyeleye)

[iv] (Hebert, 2001, pp. 1-2)

[v] (Van Der Haak, Parks and Castells, 2012, pp. 2927-2928)

[vi] (Herbert, 2001, p. 9)

[vii] According to both readings (Van Der Haak, Parks and Castells, 2012, p. 2928; Herbert, 2001, p. 19)

[viii] (Van Der Haak, Parks and Castells, 2012, pp. 2928-2935)

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