Journalism and news media as we know it has been forced to adapt in the face of digitization- but instead on focusing on the tries and tribulations of a changing landscape, two experts of the Nieman Lab point out the ray of sunshine in an unknown future. Joanne Lipman highlights that the digital world will inspire us “to invent new ways to bring stories to life”. In what she calls “the fun part”, Lipman decidedly looks at the virtually endless new ways to present stories as a positive. Armed with digital knowledge and training, journalists can harness more than just images to fortify their stories. Videos, infographics, interactive graphs and diagrams as well as audio elements are all now commonplace in the world of online journalism. This points to a virtually endless horizon of new strategies to communicate with the reader in the future.
Kawandeep Virdee expands upon this idea in saying “sites will explore further what it means to allow readers to be more active”. Similarly to Lipman, Virdee predicts that the evolution of digital news media will enrich the field of journalism rather than diminish it. In using the term “two-way conversation” Virdee indicates his belief in the proliferation of a new trend in online media. Interactivity will be possible due to technological innovations and thus transform the passive reader into an active participant in the information exchange. Allowing the online audience “more expression” will also aid in the transmission of information- interactive elements and more visual media will potentially make difficult to understand topics accessible for all.
Both Lipman and Virdee consider the future of journalism to be an exciting time, however amidst the excitement generate also exists potential issues. With fake news becoming commonplace, and the issue of payment for readership underway, the future of journalism is sure to be interesting.
Nieman Lab. (2017). Nieman Lab’s Predictions for Journalism 2017. [online] Available at: http://www.niemanlab.org/collection/predictions-2017/ [Accessed 4 Aug. 2017].
