John Thompson gets provocative at journalist.co.uk:
…if the technology to deliver local multimedia news is becoming so much cheaper and more accessible, why do we need journalists?
Already, on the back of blogging, we have a new phenomenon known as “podcasting”. Anyone with basic equipment can now effectively ‘broadcast’ by recording to MP3 files that can be downloaded via the web to play on iPods or other MP3 players. All of which will contribute to the continuing rise of the “citizen journalist”, who can publish more quickly than any journalist working in print, and who can target niche areas more effectively because he or she is not handicapped by overheads.
As Jason Salas, a news reporter writes: “In my opinion, most newspapers will fall victim to their own ignorance/arrogance and failure to realise they’re too far behind the times until it’s too late. They’ll be dead before they know it – a sad but not unexpected casualty in the name of industrial progress.”
Even if all that comes to pass, we’d still need journalists. And, more importantly, I think we’d need editors to sort through all that citizen journalism and aggregate the best of it. Otherwise, we’ll all wind up wading through separate morasses of half-truths, opinion and misguided facts, and we’ll be the worse for it.
TECHNORATI TAGS: RETHINKING MEDIA, CITIZEN JOURNALISM
[...] its own blog entry) journalism instructor Mark Hamilton says we still need them, in his blog Notes From a Teacher: Even if all that comes to pass, we’d still need journalists. And, more importantly, I think [...]
This is cool. I’m thirteen and i want to do journalism as a job. I don’t know which options to choose i don’t know what i have to pass to be able to become one. How many GCSE’s do i need aswell?
Please please please could you help me because i find it cruical
Hi there, i think this whole idea is quite interesting and exciting, but at the same time do you think that it makes an impact on traditional journalism. Sure it creates more freedom of speech and opinion, but do you think that journalism is turning into just another business these days? what are your opinions?
I don’t think we have to worry, George, for a couple of reasons. One is that a lot of people in the blogosphere, no doubt influenced by what journalism has sunk to on the “news” networks, mistake commentary for journalism. (I’m not talking about all bloggers.) The other thing is that journalism is bloody hard work. Even the simplest story takes time and, so far, no one has figured out how a blogger can get support herself while doing the journalism that needs to be done. That is going to drive the talented journalists who start out as bloggers into the mainstream media in some form or another.
The idea that the “citizen journalist” is going to
replace the regular journalist over-states the importance of the new phenomenon that is Blogging. Yes, the ability for any individual to deliver the news is exciting but it should come with a caution: being a journalist is not something you wake up one day and decide to become. If so, why do we have journalists in the first place? I have heard many commnets from friends and aquaintances that any one can become a journalist. This is true. But to become a good journalist takes training and skill that comes with any trade (and make no bones about it journalism is a trade). Being a journalist is hard work (although technology is making it easier). I hope the journalist is not killed by a rush to the computer.