Journalism and Digital Revolution - Research Paper Example

Journalism and Digital Revolution Question one The activity where one gathers, assesses, creates and presents news is referred to as journalism. Therefore, a journalist becomes the person who is charged with the responsibility to present that information as news to the audiences. There are different audiences involved including those of newspaper, television, radio, magazines or the internet (David 1). Journalism has been made changed greatly by the digital revolution. With the current advancement in technology and innovation, the world has been turned to a global village where an even occurs from one corner and it is streamed live or reported at real time to all corners of the world. This paper is, therefore, aimed at discussion some ways the digital revolution has changed journalism. Digital revolution has several impacts on the current journalism as it stands. For instance, it has been argued that, digital revolution increases commercial pressure where the digital models that used to pay for the news do not give this payment anymore as they have other ways to obtain such news for free. This would create an impact on the quality and availability journalism that rely on facts in America. The revolution has seen several consumers use search-powered web to obtain news and read only the selected parts, hence, not paying for news as they used to do. The digital media have, therefore, made news look like a commodity found in the market. The increase in the share of total advertising expenditure also exists, though most of the expenditure goes into paid search. The paid search is mainly controlled by the big media companies such as Google that only aggregates the news but do not create the news itself. Due to such big losses that have hit the journalism industry through the digital revolution, the US news publishers have used the opportunity to turn their reach in order to increase their reach, consumer value and loyalty, and generate some revenue from advertising. Through such attempts, they try to compensate the losses in revenue as a result of new commercial and technological pressures. A major challenge in maintaining such online advertisement sets in when trying to preserve the brand. Such efforts have been seen to attract many consumers, who are fragment and transient. Another challenge is for the small media houses since they are not able to compete fairly in the market. News publishers in the journalism industry are working hard to attract clicks, retain their consumer, boost advertising revenues and increase their visibility extent in the search engines. Journalist publishers are also in danger of morphing into the digital windsock when they follow the ephemeral trails that are off the global clickstream. This event may also jeopardize the integrity of journalism. Digital revolution has also made it easier for people to have a wider research on through using the various sources found in the web. It is very easy for everyone to view all stories from all parts of the world. This makes all of us who present the news on the online media be journalists. Digital revolution does not also have any constraint in time or space. The reporting is done all the time, and there is always adequate space through the digital media to pass across all the news that a journalist has (Rosa 3). The digital media also allow instant public challenge and debate to any information posted on the platform. It, therefore, makes it easy for such information to be corrected if they are, in some way, found to be wrong. Question two Audiences go through a lot of problems trying to figure out whether they are watching or listening to propaganda, gossip or journalism. Some audiences go to the extremist extents and do things that are regrettable due to such news, gossip or propaganda that they receive through the digital media. Weve heard of people committing suicide due to a shocking news they receive through such ways. Some people even succumb to heart attack, cardiac arrest and other diseases and conditions like shock, because of the digital revolution which is well known for spreading propaganda and gossip. For example, during one of the matches of Manchester United and Arsenal, last year, one of the fans died by jumping from the sixth floor of a storied building after finding out that his team, Man U, had been beaten. This was, just rumors whose source was not proved. However, it took a life. Some people have also fallen victims of propaganda and gossip on the internet where some bloggers write dirty and untrue things about their lives. This mostly happen to the celebrities whose lives are followed closely by the media and the society at large. Most people whose lives suffer so much due to such gossip and propaganda may end up ruining their businesses, political lives and ambitions, and even careers. Question three A witness who only tweets a photo of a plane crash is just one person who only tries to inform people about the event that happened. There is little grip to the information they try to pass across. One can easily doubt such information as it is an information whose validity has not been proven. People like following such event that happen at real time such as a plane crash. News from this individual will easily be spread fast over the net. However, a person who tweets frequently about air safety may have a good information to help in air safety, but will be their tweets will be ignored by many as they will not be considered breaking or exciting news (Joe 2). Question four The congress and the courts refer to a journalist as a covered person. The definition, therefore, describes a journalist as a person who works for a mainstream news organization, but it does not include bloggers. The court and the congress also regard a journalist as one who does journalism for financial gain and to earn a livelihood. The senate refers to a journalist as someone who has a regular tendency to gather, prepare, edit, writes and reports events that can be national or international. Journalists can be employed by organizations or be self-employed or be freelancers (Morgan 2). Question five Digital democratization is good for American democracy as it gives new voice to the voiceless. We, therefore, have a reason to support the fact the digital democratization is a good thing for Americans. One would become so free to stream their news through all the digital media without any discrimination or biases. This would be a good step to in reporting happenings to make people aware of the things happening in real time. Digital democratization also gives people the power to access the news that is posted online and give their reactions, challenge it and even the news as it happens. However, digital democratization also has its bad sides (Jan 23). For instance, with this democratization, one claims the rights to post anything, anyhow to the digital media without any screening to ensure that whatever they are posting has some proof or level of truth in it. People are even free to talk ill about others through the digital media as they claim such rights and freedom. Digital democratization should, therefore, be allowed, but be monitored and controlled within certain limits. In a nutshell, a digital revolution has caused several changes in the current world journalism. The revolution has come with both advantages as well as disadvantages in equal measure. The revolution has also made the definition for a journalist to change. Despite all the drawbacks of how the digital revolution has changed journalism, there are much more reasons to embrace it and digitize democratization. Work Cited David, Ingram. "What id a Journalist?" The News Manual (2008): 1. Web. 7 December 2008. . Jan, van, Dijk. "Digital Democracy: Vision and Reality." Department of Media Communication and Organization (2013): 23. Web. 7 December 2014. . Joe, Wilcox. Oddly Together. 14 April 2010. web. 7 December 2014. . Morgan, Weiland. "Congress and Justice Departments Dangerous Attempts to Define Journalists." Electronic Frontier Foundation (2013): 1-3. Web. 7 December 2014. . Rosa, Golijan. "Consume Reports: Facebook Privacy Problems are on the Rise." NBC News (2012): 2-3. Web. 7 December 2014. . Read More