From Iphone to Newspaper - The new media sphere
This essay will scrutinize how mobile devices and new technology such as the internet are an aid to the gathering and reporting of information, both by professional journalist and “citizen journalists”. In order to do so, I will discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of this sort of newsgathering and reporting, and reflect on how this impact journalistic practices, news value and ethics.
Living in the twentieth century, popularly called the ‘digital age’, we are witnessing a unique and still going revolution in the field of information and communication technologies. The internet, with its tremendous impact on the economic and social relations of the world, has entered almost every field of our everyday lives. By day after day the internet is gradually breaking the barriers of space and time. Such new technology opens for a stream of possibilities in the world of journalism, providing journalists with the most important tool since the telephone (Chakravarthy, 2003.).
With its instant growing and largely free access to millions of data sources around the world, the internet is clearly a helpful tool for journalist or normal citizens in the search for information. With the high tech mobile phones and wireless internet, we always have access to ‘the world’, wherever and whenever, and more importantly the technology of new media makes the news gathering and production more efficient, faster and cost effective. We see, we capture, and we inform (Chakravarthy, 2003, p. 153). Further, the invention of high tech mobiles with internet access is not only an advantage for journalists. Chakravarthy (2003, p. 171) suggests that “The internet is many things to many people. It is a voice for many who for too long did not have the means to express themselves, because earlier communication media have been controlled by the few”. In other words, the ordinary individuals can now communicate and express themselves in ways earlier only permitted educated journalists. It has opened for a two-way communication, interactivity, where there is room for the audience to interact, control and critique the media. Potentially the internet has put everyone on the planet into the media business (Bowman and Willis, 2005)
After the burst of the dot-com bubble, we have experienced a change in technology and attitude that have created a relationship between journalists and their consumers that did not exist in the days of printed press. Whilst the newspapers in its beginning was the providers of news and the audience consumers, the audience is now an active, important participant in the creation and broadcasting of information, with or without the help of the mainstream media (Kennedy and Moen, 2007). Armed with web publishing tools, always on-connections, Iphones and similar powerful digital mobile devices, the ‘citizen media’ has in earnest entered the media sphere. With blogs, grass-root reporting, videos, and photos the citizen journalists are watch-dogging, filtering adding and editing the mass of information online (Bowel and Willis, 2005).
Even though citizen journalists often are a great help in the media sphere, there are some disadvantages. From the very beginning journalists have functioned as ‘gatekeepers’. Carefully they select, interpret and present the news and the information they provide people. In these digital days, whare anyone can publish news and find whatever information they are looking for, journalists are forced to share the gatekeeper role with the rest of the public (Kitty, 2005), (Burns, 2005)
In order to get something, you need information. In order to understand something or to make a decision we need information, which hopefully is accurate, relevant, timely and truthful. This is where this ‘new’ media sphere faces their biggest challenge; online news sites have been challenged for being less critical of their sources, not checking facts, being less objective. The online sites and sources are endless and varied, and so is their newsworthiness. There are numerous websites discussing the secret identities of superheros, and other oddities. Bad information is everywhere (Kitty, 2005). Conventional media is supposed to have checks and balances, thus is free content have been every journalist nightmare; with anyone being able to report, how can we ever trust our sources. News consumers want, and needs filtering. The gate keeping is supposed prevent bad information from being published, and make sure to cover the truth. Whilst newspapers generally do a good job at this requirement, the online media do not provide enough specific, newsworthy, trustworthy information (Chakravarthy, 2003), (Goode, 2009).
In addition, since the new technologies tend to crate an open global ‘community’ for free speech, there will be pressure from one direction on the rest of the world to adopt this notion of free speech. Freedom of expression is one of the challenges concerning filter and protect the public (especially children) against inappropriate messages (Chakravarthy, 2003). Last, but not least citizen journalism will surely face a great ethical challenge in the future. The speed and anonymity provided by the internet can play undiscovered with the journalist ethics.
In conclusion the citizen journalism stands to dramatically alter the role of the traditional and educated journalist and editor. New communications technologies are available for anyone, anywhere and can provide voice to people that have over long time been ignored. Still, journalism goes where its audience cannot and will not go, and will continue to be the most trustworthy accurate source of information. (Kennedy and Moen, 2007) Just like you can not give anyone a scalpel and call him a surgeon, you can not give anyone an Iphone and call him a journalist.
Sources:
Kennedy, Moen 2007a. What is good journalism? How reporters and editors are saving America’s way of life, University of Missouri Press, Columbia, USA.
George Kennedy, Daryl Moen 2007a, Stuart Loory 2007b.How to get the journalism you deserve, University of Missouri Press, Columbia, USA.
Alexandra Kitty, 2005. Don’t believe it! How lies become news. The Disinformation Company LTD, NY.
Alex Bruns, 2005 vol 26. Gatewatching- collaborative online news production. Peter Lang, NY.
Jagadish Chakravarthy, 2003.Cybermedia Journalism- emerging technologies. Authopress, Dehli, India.
Stuart Allan, Einar Thorsen, 2009. Citizen journalism Global Perspective. Peter Lang, NY.
Luke Goode, 2009. Social news, citizen journalism and democracy. New Media Society 2009 11: 1287 originally published online 24 November 2009.
Reyhan Harmanci, 2008. Citizen journalism carriers unique pitfalls. San Francisco Chronicle (10/1/2007 to present), 05/10/2008, pA7, 0p
Jim Hall, 2001. Online Journalism, a critical primer. Paperback, P: 266, ISBN:074531192x
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