The Future of News

John Schwartz
js135210@ohio.edu

I'd be lying if I said that the article detailing what could be the future of news by the American Journalism Review didn't get me a little excited. Not only is all the technology in the article possible by todays standard, many people's lives are already own the devices described in the piece -- cars with digital displays, voice recognition technology, smart watches, all are available to the average consumer.

The Moto 360 Smartwatch has set the bar high for its competitors.

The question then becomes, what will news look like in that not so distant future? AJR's contributor Paul Sparrow offers a future of micro-news, where people will get their information in small bite (or byte) sized chunks.

So what, then, will be our roles as newswriters in a society where hyperlocal news rules? We will have to be on the front lines constantly -- aware of school closings, sudden changes in weather, important city council ordinances, outbreaks of fires, potential small scale epidemics, the cancellation of a school board meeting.

All of these facts might not be too difficult to procure after some time, but weighing when and how the news is going to go out would be a real challenge. What deserves one or two sentences and what deserves a more in depth story? Do we advertise a meeting of the most populous Homeowners Association in the area? What about the least populous?

It certainly is going to take a lot of finagling in order to get things right, perhaps even years before news gets into a harmonious rhythm with people's lives. by then, will things be too late? Will people just turn to other established brands like Twitter and Facebook, where perhaps the news is less vital but infinitely more personalized?

I don't think that a highly centralized online profile system is very far off. So much information is available on people on the internet anyways that pinpointing a person's education, previous schools, location of their children, all these things are more readily available than we would like to think.
It all comes down to software. Programming is quickly becoming one of the most valuable skills globally. If journalists can gain access to an infrastructure and a content management system which will allow them to know who is tuning in, who is associated with what areas, what specific interests their subscribers have, they will have a much easier time of maintaining their readership.

As for the future of journalists, becoming ingrained in the communities they live in will become more important than ever. They aren't going to know what is important to the readers if they don't know where they live, shop, go to school, eat, etc. Learning about their readership's interest is going to be of vital importance, considering that the news is going to be potentially delivered right to their arm, or their car dashboard, or even the inside of their glasses.