Rethinking the Role of the Journalist in the Participatory Age
Students who dream of a career in journalism are entering the profession at a time when the question of who is a journalist, and even
what is journalism, is open to interpretation. The function of
journalism is still to provide independent, reliable and accurate
information considered vital to a vibrant democracy. But defining who is
a journalist is much harder.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a journalist as "a person who writes for newspapers or magazines or
prepares news or features to be broadcast on radio or television." The
definition is less about what a journalist actually does and more about
whom they work for. It reflects how the profession of journalism
developed in a mass media system, based on the production of news by
paid professionals who decided what the public needs to know, when it
needs to know it and how it will know it.
The media industry is going through a profound transformation that is disrupting just about every aspect of the business. Journalists are at
the center of a transformation that is challenging norms and routines
that have remained, until now, highly consistent. It all amounts to, in
the words of media
scholar Mark Deuze, "one of the biggest challenges facing
journalism studies and education in the 21st century."
The new journalist needs to learn and understand how news and
information works in a digital world, instead of simply applying
established norms and practices that may no longer be effective.
Read more here.
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Comment by Jason Grant on July 15, 2010 at 9:57pm -
The thing that I have noticed the most from my time in newsrooms is that most established organisations update their website last and only turn to the social networks when they are unable to contact somebody over the phone.
The mindset of established media companies is astonishing, so it's no wonder that the next generation are convinced that that is the only way forward.
Also, the new digital companies seem to be making money from online news gathering/dissemination but are mostly producing content that can be sold to advertisers or just reproducing easy to read content from press officers/communication managers.
Alas, if we are all producing content and so many people have the tools to enable them to build their own news service, how do we define what is good and what is not? Lastly the big question is how do we make money from these new forms of journalism without sacrificing are values/morals/principles?
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