“Journalism is an act of faith in the future”

Ann Curry

In this post of my blog I am going to explain how the digital economy has changed the journalism sector and to examine from an analytical point of view what the future of the profession will be like under the influence of digital environment. I have worked most of my short career in this area, from reporter to editor. So, I think that I can reflect my concerns about this subject in an accurate way.

I have the feeling that in recent years journalism, as it was originally conceived, has suffered one of the most radical changes in terms of professions. Moreover, I would say that since the creation of the first newspaper in 1594, the Mercurius Gallobelgicus (Fletcher, 2014, p. 3), there has not been a more disruptive event. That first change of channel, from oral to written transmission, has been renewed with its 2.0. version: print newspapers to the digital newspapers.

This irruption into the online world has created certain ambivalence between the public and professionals. There is no doubt that new technologies have become great allies, but also great enemies with which the professional must deal with every day. Digital journalism has changed the information paradigm, since it provides a broader and more pluralistic range; something essential for any democratic society. The current journalist must face four major challenges:

Immediacy

Selection procedure

Quality

Capital

The arrival of the digital age is making the human being becoming the homo ipso facto: everything must be done quickly. Therefore, the journalist must incorporate this new need with other principles of traditional journalism, such as the rigour and contrast of information, where the “time factor” is fundamental. The chance that digital environment gives millions of sources without hardly any effort makes the news reader tend not to read the full articles. In fact, 55% of digital readers spend less than 15 seconds on each news article (Hayle, 2014). Moreover, digital media has changed the system. Before, the journalist selected the news that he/she considered interesting for the reader. However, now the reader has the option to use their criteria when choosing. This liberalization, combined with the profusion of the digital environment, has led to a greater diversity of sources (mainly scattered in Social Media) that in most cases are little contrasted. Thus, the result is misinformation.

Ironically, the most fashionable term in 2017 is involved: Fake News.

With this scenario, there is a factor that makes the difference: quality. Digital media has diminished the quality of the product by this lack of maturation that I mentioned before. Consequently, it is interesting to see how the journalistic style is changing. The creation of journalistic niches in which the product is treated in a more careful way is progressively increasing. As Filloux (2013) pointed out, “magazines have done a lot better job than newspapers capturing readers’ preferences”. This is presumably visible in the average reader, who can recognize a certain rejection of the most outdated standards of journalistic writing and be attracted by the more rejuvenated journalism showed in magazines.

Is immediacy the only culprit in the decline of quality?

Absolutely not, the main reason is money. We are all used to neologisms like clickbait. The new route that the profession is taking goes round a rugged road where the headline is more important than the content and where the importance of the news is measured not by its journalistic value, but its profitability.

How will the situation change in the future?

I think the situation of journalism as we know will change a lot in the coming years. Print newspapers will hardly survive over the years (Sambrook, 2017), with exceptions to certain market niches, such as exclusive cultural magazines. Subscription systems will be more widespread than now (Gingras, 2018) and the personal value of each brand will play a crucial role in gaining readers. Unfortunately, the essay articles will lose strength due to the lack of focused reading of the clients. Although my point of view is somewhat pessimistic, I think the solution will be brought by the readers themselves. We must put more effort in selecting and contrasting the information we read. If we know that there are vested interests in the news, we should suspect. Here I attached a video in which the renowned journalist Nandagopal Rajan gives useful advice on how to fight against misinformation.

If you want to know more about this topic, click here
to learn how to fight disinformation!

In short, having worked as a journalist and considering myself an avid reader of newspapers, I understand that immediacy is something desirable in the media. Nevertheless, it should not become its main objective, since it leads to errors that destroy the main values of journalism: credibility and trust. If we manage to use the digital resources appropriately, we will have an excellent tool for the propagation of news.

Word count – 825

References

Filloux, F. (2013), We Need a New Era of Digital Journalism. The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/feb/18/digital-media-internet

Fletcher, P. (2014), News in Early Modern Europe: Currents and Connections. Brill, p. 3.

Flood, A. (2017), Fake news is ‘very real’ word of the year for 2017. The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/02/fake-news-is-very-real-word-of-the-year-for-2017

Gingras, R. (2018), How Journalism can thrive in the digital age. The Star. Retrieved from: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2018/06/21/how-journalism-can-thrive-in-the-digital-age.html

Hayle, T. (2014). What You Think You Know About the Web Is Wrong. Time magazine. Retrieved from: http://time.com/12933/what-you-think-you-know-about-the-web-is-wrong/

Rajan, N. (2017), Online Journalism and The New Rules of The Game. TEDx Talks [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa00673C9-o

Sambrook. R (2017), Stop Press? Last Words on the Future of Newspapers. Independent. Retrieved from: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/stop-press-last-words-on-the-future-of-newspapers-a7558006.html

Vongkiatkajorn, K. (2018), Here’s How You Can Fight Back Against Disinformation. Mother Jones. Retrieved from: https://www.motherjones.com/media/2018/08/heres-how-you-can-fight-back-against-disinformation/

Thank for joining me!

First of all, I am going to introduce myself. My name is César Martín de Consuegra. I am a 25 years old professional from Asturias, Spain. In spite of my peninsular origin, for more than two years I have been living in Manchester, UK. After finishing my studies at the University of Oviedo (Modern Languages and their literatures + communication specialization) I decided to come to improve my English level by coming to England. Since then I have grown a lot as a person and I have created a big moral debt with my host country, where I adapted from the first moment and I have learned to love.

Since I moved, I have managed to develop my professional career as Assistant Data Specialist in a company considered as a major publisher of business information. Here I deal with private company data combined with software for searching and analysing companies. The entry into the business world has made me understand that in the 21st century professionals must be versatile, flexible and dynamic. So, I decided to study a master’s degree in Marketing at the University of Exeter. My background has given me a professional profile in which communication skills, languages (I speak Spanish, English, German and Italian) and my experience in journalism stand out. However, I had the need to complement my profile with something different.

As a result of the study of this master I created the blog. Here I will present the activities related to module number three: Digital Business Models. Since I started the master’s degree in September 2018, I have strongly believed that Marketing is one of the most creative business specializations.

To be honest I will say I that I am highly motivated, as I think that I am a person whose creativity abounds. In fact, this module previously named is one of the most interesting in the first instance. I would also like to highlight the importance of the topic I am deal with. The world in which we live is fully digitized and interconnected, so we must take full advantage of the opportunities that networks offer us.

In conclusion, I will say that I am willing to maintain contact with all of you and obviously that I am very keen to hear from you. I look forward to sharing my experiences.

Please feel at home!