Unfortunately, I am going to place a black cloud over the “new media” frenzy.
Without a doubt, the internet is making news more accessible to our generation. Now, being the tech-savvy teens that we are, we can find news stories as soon as we click open our homepage. We can check-up on the latest world news and celebrity scandals while on our way to class or on the metro. However, every rose has its thorn.
As an aspiring journalist, this change from old media to new media stirred a doomful question in my mind: Will these new media methods inevitably take away some creativity for journalists? In this day and age, the world is moving at lightning speed. People who want something want fast results. Our level of patience is lowering. Fast food, get-rich-quick gimmicks and typing an e-mail rather than mailing a hand-written letter are just a few examples of the fast-paced lifestyle. In addition, many receive daily fixes of news updates via text message that just provide the bare minimum of top headline information. So, as time progresses, will people move so quickly that they will not want to take the time to read a wordy article when they can just get the naked facts? Will journalism become just a series of bullets? Does this mark the end of the inverted pyramid and will quirky word choice take a turn for the worse?
As much as I wish this was false, I couldn’t help but wonder if this had any sense to it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
aised this question!
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly true that our society is fast-paced. Our generation craves quickness, sometimes at the expense of quality. We demand fast food over home-cooked meals, prefer texting to calling and would rather read Spark Notes or watch the movie version than take time to appreciate a novel. The more condensed, the better. Therefore, the thought that journalism will head in the same direction is not unreasonable, especially considering the growing popularity of the Internet as a source of information. Like Margo, I fear that journalism will suffer in this rushed age.
On a side note, I would like to comment that it seems this hyper-speed is almost unique to the United States. In many cases, other countries are more apt to take their time. For instance, Europe: In Spain, the tradition of taking a early to mid-afternoon "siesta" is still commonly practiced. Participating Spaniards get the opportunity to eat an adequate meal, spend time with family and friends or even just take a nap. And in Germany, carmaker Audi isn't very concerned with making high quality cup holders; speculation could conclude that this is because Germans would rather enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee or glass of juice and aren't always on-the-go.
Why is this? Why are Americans specifically so concerned with speed?
While your eerie prediction may be true for simple-minded teenyboppers obsessed with Twitter and Facebook, I think that, fortunately, the vast majority of young adults and adults still do have and will continue to have a great interest in true, detailed journalism.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if friends of Martin Luther cried out the death of journalism when they heard about the new printing press.
Journalism will certainly suffer from the (yet again) Orwellian "speeding-up" of culture and news, but it will survive.
To expand upon Andi's point: this "hyper-speed" is not unique to the United States; I think your phrase could be better worded as "the Western world." The UK, China, and Japan especially all favor fast, intense cultures. America certainly wants to get things (except for wars) done quickly, but so do some other countries.
Overall, I believe and hope that journalism will evolve with the times and grow into a better tool for news through the technological advancements of the future.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI disagree that journalism will be reduced to a series of bullet points. A headline reading Plane Crash in..." gives the population little to take in. Human curiousity taunts us to look deeper. "Was anyone hurt or killed? Was the accident preventable? Who or what was at fault?" are all questions that come immediately across one's mind when hearing of an accident and, for most, makes us delve deeper into the issue. No headline, bullet point, or text message will ever truly quell the human curiousity.
ReplyDelete