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If only print journalism could make its way to Dignitas.
Instead, it lies in a semi comatose state at the Intensive Internet Unit, battling for life against the rapidly metastasizing digital revolution.
A few weeks back on PM with Eddie Mair, Roy Greenslade, Professor of Journalism at City University, declared the next decade could signal the end of print journalism.
The steep decline of print publication against the rapid ascent of on-line print cannot be underestimated in this digital age. Johnston Press, the UK’s second largest producer of local newspapers, has so far been hit by three closures this year alone.
We live in a Virtual Age where print is almost Neanderthal, given today’s new generation of hybrid digital citizens.
Google is the 21st century modern point of reference. It replaces the encyclopedia or dictionary - which in Vogue terms, are so last season.
Why buy newspapers, magazines, etc when information can merely be gotten at the touch (or swipe) of a button?
Want to know which MP allegedly called a policeman a pleb? Ask your phone.
Interested in knowing how our Eton educated PM floundered at a ‘basic’ (subjective) citizen test on a popular US TV chat show? Go Google .
News as instant as instant milk can be found on the internet. No waiting around for tomorrow’s papers churning out in effect what is old news by the time it has been printed.
News as instant as instant milk can be found on the internet. No waiting around for tomorrow’s papers churning out in effect what is old news by the time it has been printed.
Both the Guardian and Times newspapers have seen print sales drop almost 50% over the last decade; with popular tabloids like the Daily Mail and the Sun suffering a setback of almost 30% in losses. (Audit Bureau ofCirculation)
What are the implications for future journalists? Will they have to tap into an inner tech-geek persona, re-inventing themselves as virtual ninjas foraying into a world of digitally led news?
I agree with what you have put forth in this post here. With the ever-increasing technology and the transition of journalism to digital, the future journalists are going to be greatly impacted. They will have to be multi-skilled and develop their knowledge in areas like CMS and social marketing to promote themselves and their material online. They will also have to learn how to increase traffic to their blogs or websites considering the huge amounts of matter there is on the internet and the competitive nature of this industry. The news will in fact be digitally led. Malcolm Gladwell of the New Yorker has said that future journalists, should skip journalism school and instead develop their specialist knowledge. He said, "If I was studying today, I would go get a Masters in statistics". Journalism Schools may even begin joint programmes in journalism and computer science. Virtual ninjas indeed.
ReplyDeleteNeha
A Masters in Phone Hacking could have been handy just few years ago
DeleteMasters in Statistics? Oh no please! Still trying to get my head around Anne Dix's Teeline!
ReplyDeleteI think that substantially there is not that much difference between writing for a newspaper or a website (yes, there are different deadlines, more pressure, but there is never enough time to finish your story anyway, so that is kind of all right). Journalism is not dying yet, I've even heard there were media start-ups in the U.S. specialised in large in-depth reports, and there is a market for that. So things are probably not all that bad, there will be jobs for journalists in the future, at least for some of them, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteHaha, shorthand still hasn't let go of us journalists. So much for technology!
ReplyDeleteOf course journalism is not dying. However print journalism is. There is a huge difference in writing for an online publication, vis a vis print. First of all with the latter you have no readership engagement and participation; a major characteristics of online news .
ReplyDeleteI don't think that makes that much of a difference, frankly speaking, if you are reporting a story, you are hardly expected to take part in lengthy debates online and answer any comment coming in from every crank.
DeleteThe comments from online cranks gives journalists an idea of what type of audience we attract; helps in determining how future articles are written and substantially help in the management of whatever print publication we are writing for.
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