No more newspapers??

The journalism world has always revolved around the public and its need for information. In this growing digital information age, it comes as no surprise that a specific type of journalism known as print journalism is coming to a slow and excruciating halt in society today. The reason for this is because the general community today has a plethora of methods to gain information and the news. Technology, specifically the internet, is changing the trends in journalism by incorporating many diverse media platforms. By media platforms, I am referring to the convergence of not only web sites but also the news television stations and newspapers. This combination provides and creates more resources to probe issues and more powerful story-telling methods through multi-media technology. Even though many people today perceive this technology trend as a beneficial thing, it is casting an ugly and impending shadow over the field of print journalism.

However, even though newspapers are becoming obsolete, it is not the end for print journalism. Instead, we can redefine what it means to be in the field of print journalism. The new era of journalism will not be built on a linear narrative. The next generation does not consume news and information that way. It is in short bursts, like their communication by SMS and IM. You can still publish news and journalism to this audience, but how? If you break down the construct of a news story that lasted for so long because of a certain need (to fill columns in print), how can journalism serve readers’ needs in new way? Should we recognize an exchange in the comments section of a reporter’s blog as journalism? What about an online chat? So what I’m saying here is, let’s broaden the definition of what it means to commit print journalism.

~ by jlphilipps on February 24, 2010.