Journalistic Fragalistic, what?

The internet has affected the profession of Journalism in positive and negative ways. As for traditional print journalism though, the internet is definitely not doing it any favours. If anything, it will contribute to the eventual downfall of the print media.

It is true, as was discussed in class, that anyone with a half decent grasp of writing (in any language) can become a journalist. A journalist essentially collects, writes and distributes news and other information. News and information can mean anything, because these terms are relative. While some of us might not give a crap (mind the expletive, but any mention of the Bieber warrants one) about the life of Justin Bieber, there are others who hang on his every tweet and update. As long as one is "telling" (this can be as simple as talking about your day), one can potentially be labelled a journalist. The internet has become the wild wild west of journalism, anyone and everyone is sharing something on the internet.

Potential Solution

A possible way of rectifying the journalism problem posed by the pervasiveness of social media on the internet is to give accreditation to journalists, to certify their profession. Like a practising lawyer or doctor, there would be a piece of paper or official record somewhere to show that one is a journalist. One would have to go through training of course and pass practical and theory tests. Hypothetically there could even be two categories, field journalists or writers. They either work mostly in the office to get stories, or they are out in the field a lot, getting into the thick of things and getting their stories from there. 

From Print to Digital

How many people do you see carrying newspapers these days? How many people do you see carrying an e-reader capable device? That's right. The disparity in both these figures has been noticed by news organizations and publishers of print everywhere. Every respectable magazine or news company has a digital version of their issues

Print is in danger of becoming extinct if this trend continues

 

Reverse Publishing

Some newspapers are now adopting a "web-centric" approach to organizing their work flow. It is known as reverse publishing, this means that reporters and editors think first about reporting and producing text and multimedia stories for the web before writing a text story for the print edition. The priority for news outlets have become getting their breaking stories out onto the web first, before anywhere else. This is also a consequence of the slow and laboured process of print. You have to go through designing and formatting a whole issue of a newspaper before sending it for production and subsequent printing, and the whole thing is done on a fixed schedule. As for online editions, if one breaking story comes along, they can write it, get it proofed by the editor and than instantly publish it on their website. It is simple and straightforward, and just as many people get to see it, if not more.

It is plain to see that a total shift from print to digital would make a lot of sense for everyone, but I hope that giving everyone the ability to post what "news" they want does not tarnish the quality of reporting or the integrity of journalism. (who am I kidding? hahahahaha)