Dear Digital Journalism, Are you Hiring?
When I tell people that I’m studying to be journalist I feel like they give me a stare. Not the good kind of a stare, but the long deep eye piercing stare that makes one uncomfortable and self-conscious. The stare that reads, have you picked up a newspaper lately and read about the fall of journalism as we know it? Do you know what the internet is and how it’s taking over? Have you heard of this Digital Journalism phenomenon?
It’s taken me a while, but I’m more confident now than I’ve ever been when I stare back at them. Now with eyes bursting with intent and excitement I can say, Yes, I’ve heard about the fall of journalism (No, didn’t get it from the newspaper, I haven’t picked up one of those in over a year, that stuff is posted on the internet for free!) and yes I have heard about this Digital Journalism phenomena…and I’m ready for it. With change comes the invention of new techniques, fresh ways of thinking, and innovative ways of working. Digital journalism represents that for me, a fresh change to a struggling enterprise. Fortunately, I am the cusp of the change. I know more about the new wave of media and technology than I do about the old ways.
One-man-band reporting, content curation, crowdsourcing, blogging, social media, long hours with little pay….that’s the only news industry I’ve known so the change for me isn’t swift…but that doesn’t mean that I’m without hesitations.
With digital media comes “digital money”—which is basically the lack thereof. With news programs relying upon user generated content with as much fervor as they are relying on the content of their staff, media jobs are not only diminishing but their becoming glorified permanent internship-esque positions. The idea of “making your way to the top” is being replaced by “we’ll call you when we need you and pay you for ½ the work you do”. There’s no money in digital journalism and if that doesn’t freak out a journalism student, I don’t know what will.
But as they say, there are two sides to every story. Because so many media industries have begun to lay of their staff, their staff has in turn looked to the media to find their own voices. Ex reporters, photographers, editors, and the like have created media sites, blogs, and curation websites to create a mega market of online “news centers”. The pro to this, is now journalists (and literally anyone with access to the internet who can put two sentences together) can submit reports and writings to a plethora of online media enterprises…the downside though goes back to the point in the last graph, there is no money in it for the reporters, hence the glorified internship-esque comment.
So, what is a determined reporter (who also enjoys eating at least two meals a day and plans on paying off school loans) to do in times like these? Simple: Make Digital Journalism work for you. Most of the trends we’ve discussed this semester deal with having more control over content. It is up to the determined reporter to learn more than just their “job/s” but keep up to date on changing patterns, new technologies and fresh ways of thinking. If you keep in touch with digital journalism, digital journalism will keep in touch with you, see Clay Shirky’s blog on ditching old media models and adapting with new ones.
Even after the millions of stare’s I’ve received from strangers and pessimists of digital journalism, my passion for the industry, news and innovation has not wavered…but I wonder as I write this appealing blog spot a week before I say farewell to academia and hello to bills and responsibilities if in the meantime, digital journalism has a job to spare.
