bs143110@ohio.edu
Journalism has continued to change and develop in the years leading up to today.
Social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter have become a major part of a journalist's work day.
Those websites allow for journalists to post their work, reveal crucial information such as breaking news and ask questions to better connect with the audience.
Even though social media is becoming an important tool for journalists, journalists need to make sure that they are still telling stories in a way that is understood by the audience.
Also, journalists will need to continue to make ethical decisions in terms of what information to use and who to interview. The one negative side to social media is that if a journalist makes a mistake, the journalist will see their mistake go viral on the Internet, which could leave the journalist without a job and a damaged reputation.
Journalism-as-process
For one of my classes, I'm working on a project where we have to make a wiki page on a subject that involves online journalism. One of the articles I'm using for the project deals with the term journalism-as-process.
What the term means is that journalists will constantly revisit a certain topic and add additional information once it becomes available instead of posting all of the information they have at one time.
One example of this is the LeBron James story from last summer. The article will explain it in more detail, but as each piece of information was available, it was released to the public. It did not come to the public as one big story.
How about newspapers?
The future of newspapers is a major talking point with social media now becoming a massive player involving journalism. While no one knows exactly what the immediate future of the newspaper is, it's clear that the younger generation is not using the newspaper as much as the older generation is using the newspaper. This article from USA Today explains the situation well.
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| No one knows the future of the newspaper. Photo from investorinthefamily.com. |
Blogs to take over?
I want to talk about blogs for a moment. Social media has made blogging more popular. People without a journalism degree can start a blog for free on a website such as Wordpress and type away.
Most people believe those type of people who just blog are not journalists, but some people might think that they are in the near future. Craig McBreen dives deeper into the issue.
Final Thoughts
The new world of journalism is exciting, but it can also be scary. Journalists' ethics codes have to be stronger than ever before because anyone who has an interest in writing and reporting can release whatever information they choose.
Personally, I'm eager to see what the future holds for journalism. I want to be a sports writer when I graduate from Ohio, and I know I'll have avid followers just like athletes do.
I want to make sure that I give my followers what they want in terms of coverage. It doesn't matter what changes take place in the journalism industry, I will continue to do the best I can to serve my future audience. Here's a video to close out my final blog:
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