Journalism has one foot firmly planted in the future, but has struggled mightily to get the other foot to follow. An information superhighway threatens to chop off journalism’s lagging leg, but journalists remain. They’ve adopted new techniques, and adapted to this digital age. Journalism will thrive in the future, and will feature instant gratification for all users.
The uprising of digital strategy has put publishing groups, newspaper agencies, and magazine companies under a bottom-line, fiscal microscope. Urged-on by a slow-moving economy, the digital shift has become an essential part of any companies’ future business plans. The channels by which we receive our news and entertainment is currently in a state of flux, but one constant remains: journalism provides our content.
The news may never happen if there is no one around to witness and report what it is they’ve seen. As the old adage goes, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound? Most definitely, yes. The question has more accurately become, how quickly can we deliver news of the fallen tree to everyone world-wide?
We move today at break neck speeds, and often, that isn’t fast enough. We ride the waves of 3G networks and tune into WiFi signals, all to check in on current events. Sites like Facebook, SecondLife, and Twitter have changed the connotation of what we consider news, but in a broad sense, everyone posting to those sites is a journalist. An example of this status update phenomenon, Chad Ochocinco, professional athlete for the NFL, launched the Ochocinco News Network in 2009. The OCNN reports on the latest happenings around the NFL via Twitter, and boasts the slogan, “If I break it, you might as well believe it.” The OCNN is powered by Motorola, and also has a Facebook page, which somehow seems to legitimize the OCNN as a real, NFL news outlet.
In 2001, when two towers fell in New York City, the tragic day was captured from the ground by dozens of citizen journalists. They held their video recorders, and we followed their movements and reactions. We watched their eye-witness reports as they ducked behind cars, and hid from overpowering clouds of dust and dirt. When the second tower fell, we were all right there to watch it happen. I myself still have some eerie memories of the sights, the sounds, the panic and the terror, delivered on that September morning. Many view that day as the dawning of a new age, a shift in global economic power. In the journalistic sense, the world was changed forever, because no matter where or when, life-altering news could be happening right then; how will you capture and report it?
Journalists are everywhere. It’s the scope, accuracy, and depth of field of their reporting that determines our interest in what they have to say. In the future of this industry, journalism will be even more competitive. The market’s demand for compelling journalism will determine who stays and who goes. Those who carry the tools for the trade with them at all times, are ultimately prepared to deliver the news, always. The industry-wide digital shift means you can no longer be just a photographer or cameraman. Agencies want someone who can do it all. When I first began my course work for journalism in 2007, some of the first things I was told was, start a blog, learn HTML, get a Facebook page, and become as adept in all aspects of journalism as possible. It’s advice I’ve followed and they are skills I hope to hone, as we move into the future of the world.
As print media waits while its digital cousin determines its market share, journalism is simultaneously becoming better, and worse. Millions of self-proclaimed journalists create some terrible reporting, but also consecrates the best from the bad. Like a mocha from a favorite coffee shop, the cream always rises to the top; the grounds remain in the bottom of the cup. But the grounds are an integral part to the entire process. Without them, there is no flavor.
Journalism isn’t dying. She isn’t ringing her ink-stained hands with worry about the future. She is simply changing, maturing, and preparing for uncertainty that is inherently part of reporting the news. In the city of the future, newsstands may cease to exist. Books may go completely digital, but this certainty will remain: journalism will always provide the content for the news.
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