Technology's Influence on Journalism - Term Paper Example

Journalism is a major industry based on which many people survive. Journalism is a field that takes care of educating people with the current affairs. Any information is spread to the common public with the use of journalism. There are various forms in which people get to know about the worldly happenings, but all are done through a set of reporters who gather all such information. These data are put into some format that is easily understandable and then published. Journalism has grown in all aspects and has undergone many changes in due course of time. The information and communication technologies' growth led to the evolution of journalism as a completely new one. The development of information technology and other communication technology has helped journalism to grow further. (Balunywa 2009). The improvement in the technology has made people's life so easier and it has paved way for the other industries to use make use of them and grow. The drastic improvement has changed the way people communicate and it has a great impact on journalism. The way in which people were looking at journalism has become different. New technologies are being used in all stages. Development has taken place in terms of equipments. Introduction of Internet has taken over everything. It totally changed the way journalism was before. Traditionally communication media was in the form of television, newspaper and radio. After internet's development there has been a decline in the amount of people watching the news in television and people opting for printed materials. (Allan 2005). Technology allows the journalists to grow with efficiency that helps them to achieve more difficult tasks. Journalism has improved in all means right from the first stage of gathering news materials. Normally reporters collect the information first hand or get the data from a reliable secondary source. Reporters mostly follow the same procedure in gathering the news. Then they had to take it to their respective offices and do the necessary modifications before publishing. Editing was also done by a separate group of people after which the information will be ready for publishing. Now all this can be done with the help of systems specially developed to serve these purpose. (Fredrick 2007). Channels have also undergone a change by introducing separate news channels that work for 24 hours. The increase in the competition between the various channels has led to the improvement in the way they approach the news. With the increasing number of private sector in the media field, there is an urge for the journalists to make sure they are well equipped. It has actually reduced the burden of the journalists. As everything can be done through internet, they can easily undergo an online training as of how to use these modern equipments. Internet gives the option of getting the information round the clock. Any topic like health, sports, environment and education can be got from the internet. People are able to watch the news live in the available news channel's website without any problem. E-Publishing has transformed the normal publishing industry and it has taken them to heights. The disadvantage of e-publishing is that anyone can publish their own articles which may sometimes give wrong information to people, but it has its own advantages. Almost all the magazines and books can be viewed online. Even the newspapers can be read in the corresponding website. In some days the online newspapers will comprise of video files of particular news. It will contain links which provide the detailed description of that news. This has changed the way people look at these industries. Internet is the most emerging standard using which a person can get information regarding anything that he thinks. After the evolution of mobile phones, the world has shrunk. It has brought people closer. Nowadays mobile phone includes all the features using which a person can view everything through his mobile. Using this reporter can get in touch with anyone at anytime which helps them to be in close contact. The editor can get in contact with the reporter at any place to get the current news. This helps in getting the stories from the reporters immediately. This saves time as the information is got the very moment the reporter collects information. (Steberny 1997). The editors need not wait till they send the data through post or any other medium. Money is also saved as transportation is minimal. Another useful innovation is Laptop which has helped to transfer the news as soon as the reporter gathers. It allows the information to be transferred to the editor so that he can start the process of modifying or correcting it. These electronic gadgets enable the report to be received from the scene of the place where the events occur. Information technology's major developments have helped the people to make their life easier. Components like Computer Assisted Reporting (CAR) help the reporters in preparing documents and reports easily. It consists of online based tools that assist them in organizing the collected news. He can immediately publish the news online. Invention of facilities like this has enabled in the upcoming of journalism. The happenings in the world are known by the people immediately with the development of information and communication technology. An event occurring at one end of the world is seen by public in the rest of the world with the help of satellites. Live shows and programs are made possible by using these satellites and technologies. As there are number of computer based technologies available the process becomes easier without consuming much of the time. This is definitely an advantage for the journalism industry. The impact of these technologies is more it is definitely a boon to journalism. The enhancement in communication has worked out in a very positive way which has brought journalism to greater heights. Most of the operations have been automated, hence it reduces the workload. Automation helps in saving the time and more work can be done with less manpower. But it has arrived at unemployment in the profession of journalism. Almost all the process can be automated so that the editors or other people need not sit for long hours to modify a single article. There are separate tools to achieve such tasks. Broadcasting can be done without much difficulty as digital broadcasting is made popular. Information technology helped in using digital way of broadcast instead of using analogue systems. Using these techniques it is easier to record the programmes and they can be stored for future presentation or reference. As a profession journalism has been developing by means of technology. Sophisticated tools aid in photo editing process. Selecting, editing, designing and deciding how news should be placed are all done using these automated tools. On the whole it has simplified the process of news making. Graphics has become a part of news and it creates a visual impact. Graphics can be edited and compiled with on-screen editing software that helps in editing photographs. Electronic scanning is another mechanism used to scan any printed materials. Desktop Publishing systems are used instead of normal designing and printing machines. Journalism has great opportunities from information technology which serves as a force of democratic exchange. Gathering news online uses commercial services provided by enterprises web based services. Original databases are used to conduct analysis that is based on data. Most of the magazines, newspapers, radio stations and television channels adopt the website and internet links as they have online operations. Journalism has been using digital technology, now compression technology has been adopted which transmits and store digital information with better quality. The reporters' input and information from other external sources are rooted directly to the editorial system. If the journalist is at a remote location, the news can be sent to the editorial system. These facilities have been extended by the use of ISDN network which works with the telephone lines containing high capacity. (Allan 2005). As this is a high speed network, large text information or photographs can be sent from one corner of the world to the rest. Same information can be accessed globally through computer networks or internet. There are other electronic methods that are inexpensive and simple which lends access to information. After the introduction of page makeup, the technology gained great momentum to create such tools. Page makeup permits the editor to select or edit text, size photographs and perform page layout as per the output's requirement. The normal computer systems were replaced by page makeup. (Fishman 1980). Some companies chose this as a complete editing system. This was first known as pagination. It did not derive good results as expected which led to various problems. Some people felt the traditional method was better when compared to pagination. As a result, few news agencies started migrating to the newly evolved computer systems. People started to prefer this instead of this pagination. This in turn affected the job of sub editors as they had to cope up with the changes in the new system. Editors had to perform various technical and production oriented functions. The job of editor was made easier and he just had to take care of page layout designs. Information and communication technology will help in transforming the existing news organizations into network centres where the journalists can submit their reports, the editors will modify them. (Balunywa 2009). New technologies have created a big impact on the normal process of constructing news articles. The development in information technology makes information available to everyone with easy to access options. The productivity has increased with the help of the booming communication networks. The technologies play a major role in the upbringing of journalism. A change can be uncertain as it may have both advantages and disadvantages. People prefer doing familiar tasks rather than trying a new process, as they are not sure how to go about it. Technological dominance leaves them with the fear to change to new technologies as it may lead to severe consequences. In spite of all these drawbacks, news industry is progressing well adapting to the new technology. Any new invention will have its own good as well as bad features. One should have proper knowledge and implementing them in daily routine will enable the professionals to get used to changes. There is lot of complexity in using these systems, but with proper training and regular usage it will help them to grow their business at a faster rate. As there is a lot of competition, each news company wanted to do something innovative and different to catch hold of their place in the industry. Not all organizations use the new and emerging techniques. (Pavlik 2000). Small media firms which could not afford these technologies have resulted in leaving this profession. Although there is a vast development in this field, it is up to the agencies to make use of them in such a way that it helps them to grow better. (Fredrick 2007). These technologies are used to get the information, by using efficient search methods and storing them so that they can be retrieved quickly. To achieve desired results, these operations should be carried out efficiently. It has given a positive effect and helps to deliver news that is of better quality. There are some disadvantages in implementing some of the methods. While publishing news on the web, they must ensure no in correct information is given. Bad or incorrect information can easily get on the website. The news company should make sure that only proper news is published and the quality should be maintained. If a company is making use of web publishing for the first time, it should follow the standards to deliver quality information. In web based publishing there is an option for others to give their comments and reviews which may be harsh at times. This may grab the attention of many people and the competitors which may create a negative effect on the reputation of the firm. These changes have slightly affected the traditional methods carried on the journalism. The new system has changed the way of gathering news, redefining and producing them. The system could manage any number of information coming from various sources. The major issue is reliability of information; hence the editor should make sure that the news is got either from their reporter or from a reliable secondary source. Though several technologies are introduced, it's in the hands of the company to choose the proper one which will help them in giving better results. Information must be accurate and the reports should be unbiased. New features should be examined before implementing in the existing system. (Stovall 2004). Technology's influence on journalism has been tremendous and it has changed the work of the reporters. Information that is published and the way it is done have also gradually changed. It has improved the communication between the journalists and news agencies. Journalism has undergone a transformation due to the World Wide Web and internet. Even though journalism's history was completely different, now it has taken a new dimension. The revolution in technology has changed the life of the people in a very remarkable way. There are so many gadgets that has taken over our life and altered the work life to a greater extent. If these technologies are used effectively it will serve as a tool to build and develop a better work environment. It will help in the growth of media as an industry. Hence adapting new technologies needs utmost care and proper implementation. References Stuart, A 2005. 'Hidden in plain sight', Journalism: Critical Issues. Berkshire, New york: Open University Press Pp. 1-15 Fishman, M. 1980. Manufacturing the News. Austin Texas and London: University of Texas Press. Stovall, J. 2004. Web Journalism: Practice and Promise of a New Medium. Boston: Allyn and Bacon . Husband, C. 1994. A richer vision: the development of ethnic minority media in western democracies. Paris: UNESCO Publishing; London: J. Libbey Sreberny, A. 2005. Journal of ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 31 Sreberny, Annabelle et al. (eds.) 1997. Media in global context. London:Arnold Do minority/diaspore media help or hinder social integration Balunywa A., (2009). Article on Impact of ICT in Print Media. Retrieved from: http://mastersofmedia.hum.uva.nl/2009/09/11/the-impact-of-ict-on-the-print-media-journalist-in-uganda/ Fredrick M., (2007). Journal Article on Impact of ICT on Journalism. Retrieved from: http://mugira.wordpress.com/2007/12/26/impact-of-ict-on-journalism/ Pavlik J.,(2002). Journal Article on Impact of Technology on Journalism. Retrieved from: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/contentdb=allcontent=a713773177 Read More