The newspaper has long been a cultural symbol of American freedom and democracy. Since its earliest days, the mission of “the newspaper” has been to inform the public of the latest local and national headlines, and also to serve as a power-checker of the political and economical elite of our society. To many Americans, reading the newspaper was once as routine as drinking a morning coffee. However, traditional newspapers are finding it hard to compete with online trends like blogging and RSS feeds, which are able to deliver news straight into the user’s fingertips 24 hours a day.
There is a definite appeal to online news sources such as CNN or MSNBC. In addition to the standard news articles, online news sites offer additional comprehension aids such as numerous photos, video streams, and comment boxes where the average citizen can offer his or her perspective on the issue. Users can also subscribe to online news sources, which allow subscribers to get new information as it happening. Newspapers, which are printed once a day at maximum, can hardly compete with that kind of immediacy.
Many argue that this new kind of "citizen journalism" is great because it offers multiple perspectives on newsworthy issues. The average citizen has more chances to contribute to and participate in democracy. However, I argue that the increase number of viewpoints and blogs does not necessarily equal greater democracy. For one, journalists are held to certain set of standards and code of ethics. They are trained to report the news in an objective way that provides the most amount of information. Citizen journalism is not held to any kind of publication or fact-checking standards. Anybody can say anything about anyone. Call me cynical, but I don’t believe that more information necessarily equals a more informed society. If citizen journalism is really going to be successful, it requires a more media literate society. The average person needs to be able to siphon out the truth from the opinion. This is not always easy.
Also, who is the “citizen” in citizen journalism? Are online blogs and news sites really representing the “average” opinion of society? What about those who don’t own a computer or who can’t afford Internet access? What about those who don’t have the computer literacy needed to navigate the Internet? If news eventually becomes completely digitalized, what will this mean in terms of democracy for everyone?
As more and more newspapers appear to be downsizing and decreasing circulation, online news seekers must keep these questions in mind when contributing or reading online news sources.
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I tried to post a cool picture of a poor newspaper box in my neighborhood that never gets filled, is full of graffiti, and chained to the light post. But I couldn't figure out how to do it....So I put it as my profile picture. Try to look at it. It's kind of sad.
ReplyDeleteI am responding to NDahl’s question: “If news eventually becomes completely digitalized, what will this mean in terms of democracy for everyone?” The one thing that’s on my mind a lot right now is my career. I think about possible jobs ALL the time, and the new possibilities and positions available because of the Internet are really exciting. Digital or online media means that journalists need to be trained not just for print media, but also for this new kind of media. I feel it takes a different set of skills to write for the Internet. Stovall explains this more on page 190: “With unplanned breaking news, confidence in using language is a must for Web journalists. If information is to be posted immediately, time for editing is minimal. A journalist must be able to quickly form the information into a story that makes an event understandable to a mass audience.” I think we’ve all seen job descriptions that say, “able to work in a fast-paced environment,” but online journalism really is a fast-paced environment. A Web journalist doesn’t just have to make stricter or more frequent deadlines, but they also have to be accurate before they post or publish something. This creates the need for more editors, because someone always has to be available to proof something, like this Journal Sentinel blog entry posted at 5:45 a.m.
If news and information is completely digitalized, then there will be different jobs that writers would be able to perform. A lot of companies now are hiring bloggers. This CraigsList posting is for a blogger position. It doesn’t give much information, but I think it’s interesting that they would prefer a college student for the position. What does that mean? That young people write more interesting blogs? How reliable would that information be? What sort of writing experience or training does the blogger need? And, why did they spell “BLOGGR” wrong? That’s not very credible.
Online media changes a lot of things in our democracy. It has created many opportunities for people like us (writers and journalists) because we can broaden our experiences and have different careers than a journalist twenty years ago could have. Online media makes it easier to stay informed on current events, but also allows us to filter out what news we are exposed to. Although the Internet holds many reliable sources, I think it also teaches us to question some sources and seek out the truth if we don’t think they are telling it.
Although I am sad that print newspaper is dying, I am excited about the new opportunities that the Internet is creating. Our world is ever-changing, and the Internet is the reason for that, so why not ditch the print and go online? Because of this class blog, I feel I am converted. Almost.