Writing Assignment.

‘Technology is transforming citizens from passive consumers of news…’ 

Due to the vast change in technology, there has been a rapid alteration in the way journalism is now, compared to how journalism used to be. Technology such as Web 2.0 has allowed us (the consumers) to become producers of media. Social media has had an enormous impact on how news is now consumed, and then passed on. From print to online there is all of a sudden a large decrease in the amount of print papers readership and all of this is due to the change in technology.

“Technology is transforming citizens from passive consumers of news produced by professionals into active participants who can assemble their own journalism from disparate elements. As people Google for information, graze across a seemingly infinite array of outlets and read blogs or write them, they are becoming their own editors, researchers, and even correspondents. What was called journalism is only one part of the mix, and its role as intermediary and verifier, like the roles of other civic institutions, is weakening.”- Bill Kovach & Tom Rosenstiel, 'Chapter 1: What is Journalism For?', The Elements of Journalism, London, Atlantic, 2003.

The statements above I deeply agree with. The power of the Internet today; we can teach our self’s anything and everything to do with journalism. There are online courses, YouTube videos, online books, journals and articles, all that can give advice in order for people to self teach them self’s journalism and how to become a professional journalist. Technology has transformed citizens from passive consumers to active participants due to ability for people to publish work online. Consumers can the promote their own work by social media and using hash tags and hyperlinks so readers can access it easily. Also when Kovach and Rosenitel state ‘they are becoming their own editors, researchers and even correspondents’ this is right in the way that the process of an blog or website, is the consumer goes though the same process as a producer.

Web 2.0 has given the public the opportunity to create, research and then publish their own work. There are options to adjust settings, in order to set out the blog/ website in order for it to be presented in a particular way. There are websites that now help people create a website without having a deep understanding of HTML, codes etc. Web 2.0 has been completely transformed journalism. Looking back at journalism twenty or thirty years ago, members of the public never had the opportunity to publish their work like you can do today. Journalist working for news corporations would also have teams of people to go out shoot, report, research, interview, each person would have a certain role whereas now, journalist are expected to do that all by themselves as a one man band, so as well as filming, shooting, editing, researching reporting, journalist now have to obtain all of these different skills. According to the culture-ist there are over 2,405,518,376 users on the Internet worldwide, so the amount of news and content that is reaching these people is immense.

Social media has now become a big contributor for readers reaching stories within news. The most viewed social media site is YouTube with an astonishing 157 million monthly views, Facebook then follows with 148 monthly views and twitter with an 88 million monthly view. Social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn all connect with news corporations like Facebook has apps which you can connect to online newspapers, newspapers will have there own twitter account so people are constantly being updated on the latest stories where as before there would only be a news paper published everyday and readers would have to wait until the paper is published where as now, communication within news has become a lot quicker.  Hash tags are also a main part in new journalism now. It’s important online writing is hash tagged with the right words as this can be linked with the news article and will be more easily accessible to people and easier for people to find the article. LinkedIn also have a link with news, as they have published pieces, which you can share, like, or comment. “In the coming years, if not sooner, social media will become a powerful tool that consumers will aggressively use to influence business attitudes and force companies into greater social responsibility - and, I suggest, move us towards a more sustainable practice of capitalism.” (Simon Mainwarning, 1997)  This leads me to mention the new sort of communication consumers can have with media. Having a share button on these social media sites and online magazines this helps the magazine become contributed on a bigger scale and can be sent to a lot more people, with print the only other way to have people pass on a paper or magazine is if they physically give it to someone. Another way for consumers to easily get involved is to comment on news articles. By commenting the reader can express their view on the article and even create a debate. This is something consumers have never had the opportunity before. As well as this can be a good thing, it can also cause harm in the way that people can act inappropriately online.

Blogging on websites like Blogger, Wordpress, and Tumblr allows consumers to become producers in the way that consumers have the opportunity to create, write and publish their own work and create there own news. There have been lots of successful blogs that now professionals follow and people rely on. This is a incredible way of becoming successful and some people now create and maintain a business through blogging. These blog websites allow consumers to easily upload text, images, video and audio to there work and usually they all have apps, so you can blog on your phone.

This new form of connection as well as it being a positive point, it can also be an extremely negative factor in journalism. Since social media has risen, there has been a rise in cyber bulling. “Bulling is violence and a human rights issue.” (Kirman, 2004) Being online, people feel it is easier to post what they wont as there is a screen in the way but there is a cranked down on what is said on social media and people are beginning to be arrested for bad things said on social media. Bullying being one issue but authenticity is another. People can be anyone they want to be on social media, and this is a problem as there are comments being said on social media that is not appropriate. Especially celebrities will get threat on social media, some even go as far as death threats.  It is important that online people understand to respect one an other and to use the Internet wisely. Another factor is personal information being handed out on social media people have to be careful of, so when commenting on article it’s all about being safe.

To conclude, I do agree with the statement Kovach and Rosentiel claim. I strongly believe that technology has altered journalism, journalist skills and abilities entirely. The readers have changed as well since the advances of technology today allowing them to interact closely with media and become closer and part of the media it’s self. And to sum up, we are producers as well as consumers.  

Reference:

Caryl Phillips, 2008. Migrant Journeys: A Converstation with Caryl Phillips.

Kevorkian, M., D’Antona, R., 2008. 101 Facts about Bullying: What Everyone Should Know. R&L Education.

Kovach, B., Rosenstiel, T., 2001. The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect. Crown Publishing Group.

McGuire, S., 2003. That’s show business. The Guardian.

Science 2.0: Great New Tool, or Great Risk? [WWW Document], n.d. URL http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-2-point-0-great-new-tool-or-great-risk/ (accessed 5.7.14).