When I tell people, mostly family and family friends of the baby-boom generation, that I’m studying journalism, I usually get asked ‘so what do you think about the threat of the internet on journalism work?’ I usually respond with ‘journalism isn’t dying, its changing’. This topic isn’t just on the minds of my aging aunts, it’s also on the minds of some of the most intelligent and highly regarded media professionals and have been published in The NiemanLab Predictions For 2017.
Prediction piece entitle A Year Of Reflecting In Tech by one of New York’s leading media and technology consultants, Erin Pettigrew, argues social media empowers individual members of society by giving a voice to civilians unlike anything traditional media platforms could offer.
Pettigrew suggests this is where the shift in Journalism has its routs in. Up until recently, members of the public relied heavily on the work of Journalists to represent them. Now, members of the public have their own platform from which they can speak for themselves. So where does this lead the work and demand for journalists today?
The role of modern global media in democracy acts as a “positive force against information asymmetry. It has revealed unheard knowledge, empowered new voices, awakened societies, and assembled communities,” says Pettigrew. Pettigrew discusses the demand for fair, accurate and unbiased news. Journalists will move their focus “toward stabilising platform weaknesses against community manipulation,” says Pettigrew.
The pool of social commentary, opinion, fake news and real news expands as online communities grow. Journalists today have the task of weeding out the important news from the unimportant and producing writing to a journalistic standard separating it from that of the every day part time blogger.
Social media is not the enemy, it is a journalist’s ally. Founder of AllDigitocracy and a senior fellow with the Democracy Fund, Tracie Powell discusses how social media could be utilised to aid the production of credible journalism in prediction piece Building Reading Relationships.
Powell predicts journalists will begin exploring the ways social media creates opportunity to build a space where two – way interaction between media and the audience. This interaction, unique to the online world, can be utilised to establish a relationship with the audience and get to know their interests, ideas, areas they feel knowledgeable on and areas they would like to know more about.
Powell says understanding what members of a publications audience are responding with is an important step in increasing credibility and says gaining this understanding can be achieved by something as simple as reading follower comments on social media. “More journalists can leverage this by sharing credible, useful content, engaging regularly with users, and by being empathetic. This trend will continue through 2017 and beyond,” says Powell.
So, who is predicted to win the race between technology and man when it comes to providing a voice to individuals? The answer is neither. The prediction for the future suggests journalists and modern technology will join forces as media agents and work toward creating news that is not only faster but more trusted and culturally valued than what is seen today.
Blythe Allan
RMIT University
