How The Internet Killed Traditional Journalism

The Wired World Doesn’t Need A Huge Cadre Of Information Pushers

Nov 29, 2008 Robert Courtemanche

Technology has changed how news is collected and transmitted, but professional journalists haven't seen how niche publishing is the only future left for journalists.

As the old song says, “Video Killed The Radio Star,” and the Internet is killing journalists, or at least news organizations like newspapers and television news shows that no longer provide the same value to their customers.

Journalists are seeing their career paths die right before their eyes. There are even websites like Newspaper Death Watch and a Google Maps project that tracks job layoffs at newspapers across the United States. November marks seven consecutive quarters of declining advertising revenue for U.S. newspapers.

How Did Journalism Get Here?

Journalism started dying when people stopped looking to newspapers and television for news. It is as simple as that. Mindy McAdams, the current Knight Chair for Journalism, recalls that in 1995 people turned to television for coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing, but by 2001 public demand crashed CNN’s online servers in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks.

The Internet has slowly, but surely taken over the role of “see it here first” journalism. Even 24-hour news stations like CNN, MSNBC and FOX News do not have the ability to show news as it happens anywhere in the world. The Internet does.

There have been an increasing number of events chronicled on the Internet first. The Virginia Tech shootings, the 2004 Indonesia Tsunami and the recent bombings in Mumbai, India were all shown online before television. Printed newspapers don’t even have a chance.

Journalism has Committed Murder-Suicide

At least in the United States, journalism organizations have been helping to quicken the death of newspapers and television news by abandoning the idea of journalism. Paul Bradshaw of Birmingham City University in England has a great timeline that shows how every major breaking and investigative news story since the 1998 Monica Lewinski story. And every one has been broken online.

Major news organizations seem to follow, not lead when it comes to both breaking news and investigative journalism. So it is no wonder that both casual and serious news consumers are fleeing to online sources like the Drudge Report and the Huffington Post as well as news aggregation sites.

Advertisers Are No Longer Willing To Waste Money On A Mass Produced Product

The technology revolution has allowed marketers to target advertising by gathering information about potential customers and then matching a product to the customer’s needs or desires. Newspapers and television can’t do that.

Journalism organizations have been slow to realize that the medium is not the message. Newspapers are not journalism. Newspapers are a product that brought news to people before they could find it any time they wanted it. Newspapers are a general mass-market product in a targeted niche market era. And television news is basically in the same condition as newspapers.

Is This The End of Journalism?

This is the end of journalism, as most people alive have known it. It is not the end of journalism.

Journalism is changing to meet both the demands of a changing world, but also to meet the changes in technology that are allowing anyone with a cell phone or a laptop to create journalism. Journalists used to need a massive organization behind them to produce news stories, photos or video. But inexpensive technology has changed that.

First person accounts within moments of an event are becoming invaluable pieces of journalism. Photos and videos, usually taken by cell phone, of events as they occur are only possible if the community participates in journalism. Professional journalists must change their thinking to see the value in this kind of journalism.

Journalism Is Not Dead, But Professional Journalists Face A Different Future

Professional journalists are people who can write well, edit, shoot photos or video; they will always be needed. A few national and international news organizations will continue to exist in order to cover national and international governments and business.

Local and regional news organizations will need to scale back and cover their niche, local or regional news and sports. There are many openings and opportunities at the local level. Many smaller communities are not served or underserved by the mass media. Well-organized and lean local news organizations could do a great job covering these communities online and with a weekly or monthly print product provided free to the community.

The biggest problem is that too many of today’s journalists see working at a local newspaper as an unfulfilling career path. And too many journalists today see online news as a threat to “real journalism,” and have little or no ability to create online news content on their own.

The Internet is not killing journalism; it is just killing an old model of providing news to people who want information. The new model is as different as printing on a printing press was to hand copying books. Journalism is transforming into something more interactive, where the consumer is also a producer. That is not a bad thing, but it will cause a lot of stress and disruption as the older model fails and the newer model finds ways to succeed.

The copyright of the article How The Internet Killed Traditional Journalism in Newspaper Publishing is owned by Robert Courtemanche. Permission to republish How The Internet Killed Traditional Journalism in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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Nov 30, 2008 8:29 AM
Guest :
To imply that "journalism is dead" or may be dead is absurd. Most news organizations have seen and understand the impact of technology and are actively pursuing multi platform i.e. convergent journalism.
The "Drudge Report" is not journalism it is opinion and rumor. n these very complicated times, good journalists who can work in multi media i.e. print, online and broadcast are needed more than ever.
As a journalism educator, I can tell you that e teach students to think critically, to research, to write and to report for all three platforms. We get it! I have been glued to CNN since the tragedy in Mumbai. I am also reading my regional newspaper to find out more specific details about people from my hometown who survived the experiences. Online has been my third choice to find out the context and the ongoing story.
Thought you should know how some people really utilize multi platform journalism.
Nov 30, 2008 12:26 PM
Robert Courtemanche :
Dear Guest,

I wish you had read my article more closely. If you had, then you would have seen that I did not say or even imply that journalism is dead. What I said is that the old forms of journalism are dead. Top down, "all the news that's fit to print" journalism is dead.

Convergent, user-centered, linked, multimedia, cross-platform journalism is alive and well. Newspapers in the traditional since of a paper product delivered to your doorstep or a six o'clock news broadcast are dead. News no longer waits a day or even hours for journalists to get there. Online, news is always happening. My final paragraph sums up my conclusions.

I teach journalism and believe that today's journalism and that in the future will be better and more complete than ever. But the old ways of journalism where the editor or the publisher decide what is news are over. The audience isn't just watching, they're choosing and they're participating.

Robert
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