Response: The State of News Media

My first question this week focused on how the Internet is affecting the type of news content being disseminated to today’s audiences. One thing I came across in the readings is that people are now able to choose what content they receive, more so than ever. Instead of sitting through a 30 minute newscast to hear one story that interests you, you can now type an issue into a search engine to receive the latest, up-to-date information about a topic. This is a major hit to traditional news sources, but I don’t think it is necessarily a death sentence. Although it is easier to go online and choose the content you want to view, this isn’t entirely different from scanning a newspaper for the stories you want to read.

This question also reminds me of what we are talking about with Customization and Personalization in iMedia Strategies. Users are now able to customize news sites/feeds/etc. to receive only the kinds of updates they wish to receive. The news industry now has to be a jack of all trades in order to meet the demands of consumers and users.

My next question dealt with ethics. Ethics has always been a major issue in the news industry. Without ethical behavior, news sources are at risk of losing their credibility. If I had to take a guess, I would say that journalism is in more ethical trouble than ever. Now that we can edit and change information within seconds, there is less incentive to get information right the first time. The desire to break the news first online will often outweigh the truthfulness of the writing. Why do the research now if you can go on and break the news and just press a few keys to edit it later? Before we entered a 24 hour news cycle, when newspapers/newscasts only came out once a day, journalists had to work harder to get information right the first time.

My final question asked about agenda setting, and how citizen journalism is affecting the theory. I believe that things like Twitter trending topics, blogs, and other forms of citizen journalism are changing the things we think about. Instead of having a newscaster telling us what is important, we can read about obscure topics or pop culture and choose for ourselves. It’s a scary time for journalists. Having earned my degree from UNC’s J-School, it makes me wonder how educators and professionals are going to adapt to the changing times? Will we see the old forms of media fade and die, or will they find ways to change to meet the consumer needs?

Only time will tell.

Tags: response, state of the news media, week 8