The Future of the News Industry = ???

According to the American Society of News Editors (ASNE), over 34,800 journalists, editors, columnists, and other newspaper-related professionals have been laid off since the height of the recession in 2008.  More and more Americans believe that print news is a less important source of information than the internet and television, and thousands of people are discontinuing their pricey subscriptions to newspapers and magazines by the day.  Now that the news industry is migrating to the web, it is no longer ludicrous to claim that a majority of print journalism will be obsolete by the end of the next decade.  This should be great news (no pun intended), shouldn't it?  After all, getting your news online is cheaper, greener, and more accessible than those flimsy newspapers that can never fold the way you want them to.  However, at second glance, there are some significant societal problems that can emerge if we don't pay attention to the evolution of the news and fail to adhere to the facets of responsible journalism.

As a Communications major, understanding the culture of media and the news is an extremely interesting theme for me.  Isn't it fascinating that journalists have such an important role in society--after all, they tell us what is going on in the world around us--but they are not held to as high a standard as other professions?  Why can a doctor have his MD revoked, or a lawyer his license disbanded if they conduct malpractice, but a journalist is only accountable to the vague ethics of objectivity?  How can right- and left-wing news sources claim they are committing to responsible journalism when they are owned by very partisan conglomerates, and thus, gatekeepers of information?  Although these questions draw very complex answers, the emergence of social media and the blogosphere in the news just makes things a lot more confusing.  By examining the major trends in social media and understanding the effects they have on the news (and democracy as a whole), I'm hoping to several predictions about the future of the news and what we need to do to preserve the values of the industry.

Check out my presentation, which I created through this amazing online software called Prezi, and I look forward to talking about this with you all on Wednesday!

Oh those TED talks, they never fail to inspire!

 

If you're a big news buff like me, you'll probably like this TED Talk by Clay Shirky on how social media is making history and changing the face of the news.  I know it's a not too revolutionary a concept these days with all this social media buzz going around, but I think it sums up the whole news-versus-social media dynamic really well and opens doors to a number of other issues that I wanted to address in my final project. Through my research I'm hoping to answer questions like:

•  What does the future of the news look like with the growing ubiquity of social media?  
• Does the partnership between social media and the news industry increase the objectivity and professionalism of the news, or lower its standards?  
• How can we better enhance this new wave of citizen journalism for the sake of preserving the quality of news, as well as the ability to obtain information from even the most oppressed societies around the world?

I'm still trying to hone the topic down a little better, but if you guys have any thoughts or suggestions on this I would greatly appreciate it.  Thanks! :)

"In a world where media is global, social, ubiquitous and cheap, in a world of media where the former audience are now increasingly full participants, in that world, media is less and less often about crafting a single message to be consumed by individuals... The question we all face now is, 'How can we make best use of this media? Even though it means changing the way we've always done it.'" - Clay Shirky