Transforming Online Journalism

John Carpenter
jc898610@ohio.edu

With today's journalism striving mainly off online publication, we as journalists have to remain loyal to our practice. The way social media and online journalism in itself has made it so simple to plant information to a large majority might render us thinking we can slip by, or simply manage.

The way social media has given (basically) everyone a voice hinders such journalists from providing the truth and factual information. Nowadays everyone's voice is heard via social media and the Internet, giving them a voice that can be seen over an actual journalist's.

Also, speed is a key role in today's society throughout journalism. The people need to have information presented as fast as possible. Today's society wants the quickest way to attain information, sometimes disregarding the accuracy, and that's the problem.

With regard to speed, the public is becoming satisfied much easier. The fact that information is put up is good enough for some viewers. As long as information is present and "beneficial" to the public readers, they will be entirely satisfied. The difference between this generation's online journalism is that the presence of articles and formatted information can, and will, be presented by many, so called, "un-reliable journalists."

The Internet is a gateway for uneducated journalists, aka everyday people, to provide what they think is factual data. The ignorance of such voices that are actually being listened to is a plague amongst striving journalists in today's era.

Nowadays social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, etc., have morphed what we call journalism. Facebook enables you to share information from a vast majority of celebrities, journalists, etc., while being completely uneducated about anything revolving around the subject. Twitter gives users the opportunity to voice small messages that can be seen worldwide. Twitter also gives users the power to direct messages to other users.  Instagram relies entirely on photographs published via any user, but such images can then be "regramed" by other users.  Lastly, Vine is completely video-based and gives people the power to present short clips, information-based or not.

Journalism is not only changing the way people view it, but the way people provide it. It's the quickness and deliberateness that attracts most viewers. If you think about it, it's kind of sad that readers will be satisfied by the first bit of information that their eyes set on. We've been skewed into thinking whatever comes first, right or wrong, will entirely be correct. That's the last thing we young journalists want to believe.

The basis of journalism is to provide the truth, regardless of anything. The truth is the loyalty journalists have with their profession. Today's journalism, basically striving online, gives anyone the opportunity to provide what they think is factual data and that's simply killing practical journalists. It's hard to think that Twitter provides the quickest and easiest gateway for information to go global.

Basically, non-journalists can provide information, right or wrong, before an actual journalist gets the opportunity to present the truth.  The social media ducts that provide quick data will only tend to grow, simply making striving journalists test themselves in the future.