Journalism in a Rapidly Changing World
From hunter-gatherer societies to early civilizations into modernity, communication permeates all aspects of life — that is, generations after generations keep providing newer, better, and quicker ways people can interact, gain access to information, and learn. This is why communication is said to be the bedrock of societal developments. Even though technological advancement is behind the significant shaping and evolving of journalism, data and information technology — within the purview of journalism — is the driving force behind today’s globalization. In fact, as the world is fast changing, journalism is moving away from human-to-human interactions that used to be known decades ago to human-to-machine and machine-to-machine interactions.
But as a profession of writing, reporting, editing and proofreading news articles for publication through broadcast, print and new media, some decades back, people get informed and obtained the veracity of a story only through broadcast (television and radio) and print media (newspapers). Today, renowned papers such as Wall Street Journals and New York Times find themselves fiercely in competition with the new media (blogs, emails, social media), and the attendant consequence of this are the distrust in the media, proliferation of fake news, politicization of the media, competition to break the news resulting to lack of fact-checking, etc. However, even as a disrupter of journalism, the Internet has immensely contributed to the democratization of information by further enhancing the interactive nature of the media. In fact, it was the advent of the new media, which facilitates sharing of information among citizens, that led to the tearing of a new leaf in journalism called “citizens journalism”.
The distrust in the media, proliferation of fake news, politicization of the media earlier mentioned are the major challenges that new media pose to journalism that even governments are coming up with mechanisms to tackle them; however, tackling them is about recontextualizing as the recurring theme through these challenges is one: getting the necessary context to read, view or listen effectively to a content.
One piece of context is asking, who the speaker or publisher is? What’s their expertise? What’s their agenda? How fair and accurate are their stories? Just as when you hear a rumour you want to know who the source is before reacting, so must it be when one encounters a story on the web. When it comes to claims, a key piece of context includes whether they’re broadly accepted or rejected or something in-between. By scanning for other coverages, one can see the expert consensus on a claim, learn the history around it, and ultimately land on a better source. In some cases, these techniques will show claims are outright wrong, or that sources are legitimately “bad actors” who’re out to deceive. But even when material is not intentionally deceptive, the moves do something just as important: they establish the context that the web so often strips away, allowing for more fruitful engagement with all digital information.
In conclusion, the US Bureau of Statistics may project a decline in employment in journalism by 11%, technology may continue shaping the future of journalism any way it wants it — whatever may happen to journalism, the need for qualified, experienced journalist remains paramount.
