Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Changing Media Landscape

Recently, a blog entry on Mediashift posted several video interviews with various j-school professors about what they felt journalism students needed to know today as they enter the workforce. All of their comments seemed to ring true: that is to say, there are a multitude of things journalists must know. They range from the essential, traditional building blocks (fundamental interest/passion in informing the public, maintaining ethical standards) to the modern (understanding new technology mediums and "marketing work" to an ever-changing audience). Journalists today must become more savvy than in the past, without losing critical writing and reporting skills.

When I boil it down, the biggest change in media over the last five years seems to be twofold: a decrease in print and increase in video content, combined with an interactive, personal-based approach to media consumption.
With a plethora of media to choose from, readers are moving to whatever satisfies their personal curiosities/tastes: be they community or national based, hard news or entertainment. People want customized information.

Journalists today need to know how to follow the quickly changing media landscape. They can do this in many ways: staying on top of trend publications, being involved in online settings, and just keeping up with what other media are doing. While doing this, they should always try to be innovative and find new ways to apply the media in their storytelling--no easy task. Creativity and imagination are critical.

Individual journalists should know their audience, and know what they can provide to best serve their interests. If this means twittering info, or whatever the latest trend is, so be it. Basically, they should stay on top of how content information flows online, which means they need to constantly be reading online, following stories and reader communities, and discovering where the journalist can add crucial information and provide services in the interest of the community served.

All of this weight should not fall on the journalist's shoulders alone. Management at media companies need to come out of the Stone Age and actually invest money in moving forward into the brave new digital world: hiring web producers, [insert innovative new titles here] and others who can monitor and create new ways to "market" or reach online audiences. Ideally, journalism in today's climate should be a team affair (two or three person teams would do a much better job at providing a multi-pronged approach to a multimedia world).

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