What is the future of journalism?
What is happening to the credibility?
Cassandra Junkeer 522 444
Journalism is not as black and white as it once was. These days it’s an umbrella term that covers a vast array of definitions. There’s niche journalism, hard news journalism, gonzo journalism (the list goes on) and more pertinently, citizen journalism, meaning really, we’re all journalists. But if we’re all journalists, where is this field going as an industry, economically. The main source of finance fuelling the journalism industry is advertising. The industry has seen a number of ethically questionable movements like targeted advertising and native advertising. So with these incoming waves of marketing lacing through our journalism and source of news, is the credibility of journalism becomes increasingly flakey?
David Allegretti is a journalist who writes human-interest features for publications like VICE, Noisey and SBS Two. In terms of integrity, David sees the main issue in the increasing competitiveness of the industry.
“In your next lecture, take note of how many fellow journalism students are seated around you. Now think about the various other year levels in your university, now think about how many universities are in your city, your state, your country. Daunting, I know. All these people share the aim of spreading a message; reporting on current events and communicating these events to the wider public – this is an admirable mission.”
The number of journalists increases in tandem with the intensity of competition, and as Dave suggests, the integrity of journalism gets lost along the way:
“With so much competition around and such limited spaces it can become a slippery slope in terms of integrity. Some could get lost in “the race to make it” and be led astray from their original good intentions. Of course this comes down to the individual; I think it’s important to hold onto your values. It’s not about the journalist as an individual – it’s about spreading the truth. Popularity, fame and money should never act as a substitute for integrity.”
Brandon John, editor of online music magazine The Ripe notes other new trends resulting from this. In his opinion, the worst aspect of journalism at the moment is the prevalence of click-bait.
“ You can see it seeping into outlets that previously seemed credible. Headlines have always been a tough thing to nail down; choosing something concise, informative, engaging and accurate. Now it’s almost a requirement on social media for headlines to be outright deceptive. Having said that, we’ve had ridiculous, misleading headlines in the media for a long time, but it just seems so much more pervasive now.”
While the number of journalists increase, the rise of citizen journalism adds a new level of havoc. David speaks about how smartphones have changed the way we consume journalistic material and gives us power to produce it ourselves.
“With this device we are all journalists, able to capture and share critical events with a device that fits in the palm of our hands. Factor in that the sharing is almost instantaneous thanks to the utilization of social media and you find a current media landscape full of promise. Having said this, with great power comes great responsibility.”
So what responsibility do journalists have that differentiates them from everyday tweeters, posters, whistle-blowers and other types of citizen journalists?
Brandon comments:
“The lines are becoming blurred between what constitutes a press outlet and what constitutes a blog. Integrity becomes less and less strictly-enforced as anybody can publish a piece online and hide behind the shield of it being simply a blog post rather than a thoroughly-researched article. With the urgent need to publish before your competitors, and the option to simply amend an article afterwards in the case of error (often without a disclaimer, in the case of blogs), there are a lot of temptations for writers to shoot first and ask questions later. It places more responsibility than ever on the audience to question what they’re reading, and corroborate information by reading a variety of sources.”
“Research, research, research and truth above all else” defines credible journalism in David’s opinion. He brings our attention to the close correlation between the increased competitiveness and misconstrued truths:
“Often the drive to break a story before anybody else can lead to a sense of complacency among some journalists. One can risk getting carried away with being the first to break a story that they completely overlook critical fact checking.”
From an economic perspective, the blurring of lines in journalism continues. Native advertising is a new type of catchall content marketing, where advertisements are adapted to suit the style of the respective publication and media outlet. Its purpose is to engage with consumers and potential customers, build their trust and simultaneously sell to them.
David likens this new sub-set of journalism as “a cancer that needs to be snuffed out”, and many other journalists share a similar sentiment. He directs us to John Oliver, who recently did a segment on his show Last Week Tonight on native advertising.
Brandon shares an alternative perspective:
“In some cases, native ads are distinguishable enough that I’m sure most people are aware that they’re about to view a paid endorsement, but in other cases the disclaimers are far too subtle. I enjoy ads read by announcers on radio, the old “and now a message from our sponsors”, when they try to make the best of a necessary evil and have some fun with it.”
The financial model of journalism and decline in credibility (or increase in click-bait) are closely linked. Brandon adds:
“I feel like the money is centred around web traffic, and the fastest way to achieve it. There’s always been the need to draw in an audience with headlines, but now the people writing those headlines may not necessarily be journalists, and are instead ‘social media experts’. There is still a big market for true journalism, of course, but it’s becoming increasingly tempting to simply churn out ‘content’ rather than pay someone to write something of value.”
The future of journalism for producers and consumers is not all downhill. Despite his high awareness of the shortcomings, David remains positive about the industry and his career:
“It’s being out and experiencing life that has driven me to pursue a career in journalism. Every day presents new and unique challenges as well as presenting me with opportunities to meet people from all walks of life and see places I’d never otherwise get to see.”
Similarly, Brandon is confident that the heart of journalism still prevails.
“The foundation of journalism remains: informing people. Publicising positive efforts, and holding people accountable for failings; promoting discussion, and asking questions. At its best, journalism is a science and an art; probing the world for truth, or telling its people a story.”
We live in an exciting time not only journalism and humanity as a whole. As the prevalence of click-bait and native advertising increase, we can only hope that we become more aware of the distinctions of the ever expanding interpretations of journalism.
challenges as well as presenting me with opportunities to meet people from all walks of life and see places I’d never otherwise get to see.”
Similarly, Brandon is confident that the heart of journalism still prevails.
We live in an exciting time not only journalism and humanity as a whole. As the prevalence of click-bait and native advertising increase, we can only hope that we become more aware of the distinctions of the ever expanding interpretations of journalism.
