The future of American Journalism is under the microscope, and its stableness is pending recovery.
According to the Columbia Journalism Review, the structure of journalism is shifting significantly. Reporting that was once existent on a smaller scale has made the move to a larger platform. Society has been affected by the economic blow and journalism was no exception to the consequences of the monetary downfall. Therefore, the industry and the individuals involved have to find ways and develop solutions to bring print and media out of the ‘slums’ of a fallen empire. The Reconstruction of American Journalism provides a thorough report of the media’s current situation and ideas for a successful and rational future.
To determine a considerable resolution to journalism’s lifeline, we have to identify the elements that are presently affected by the industry’s “transformational moment.” With growing popularity in digital journalism, newspapers and televised news will experience a loss in viewership, but their death is doubtful. CJR also mentioned that independent reporting, the watchdog of the press, and accountability journalism are facing challenges, and the reason behind their leakage may be due to the fact that newspapers are slowly fading into the background. Another important issue is the ‘economic foundation of journalism” that is collapsing due to lack of advertising. If journalism cannot be supported financially its reconstruction will be problematic. The current miniscule funding for journalism led to fewer pages in publications and journalists have also been cut from their positions in an effort for media companies to sustain themselves during a time of flaky existence.
The Reconstruction of Journalism offers an array of possibilities to help create an ‘umbrella’ of a plan to reinvent journalism. For one, media outlets have opted to join forces and establish themselves under one prospect, allowing an opportunity for their own innovations to collaborate while saving money at the same time. For example, in our discussion of the Comcast and NBC movement, we spoke about the two cable networks merging, and the benefits included a share in venture and “delivering content to consumers in a digital era. Another attempt at salvaging the journalism field can be found in Carr’s article News Erupt and So Does a Web Debut. The idea of brussel sprouts journalism reflects the notion that reporters provide their audience with only the essentials of news coverage and nothing else. The brussels sprouts approach is a way to rid the news of unnecessary baggage and giving the audience the important issues at hand, an option that can has the potential to give the news sophistication and offer a way to cut back on costs.
For journalism to move forward, we must consider a few important aspects. For one, we have to establish a means of supporting journalism with its finances. As a writer for The Ticker news, I covered a story about the developments for journalism found from the innovators of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. Jeff Jarvis, director of the Interactive Media Program at the graduate school, created business models for the economical stability of journalism seeking to answer the question: What happens to journalism in a top 25-metro market if the newspaper fades away? Jarvis and his associates created the hyperlocal and ecosystem framework models as a platform to optimize business within the journalistic ecosystem. The ‘paid’ models provide ways in which publishers can receive pay for the news that they compose, one being a pay wall in which readers read content and pay to read the rest of an article or blog. When we can establish common ground for backing the news in its financial state, the road to redevelopment in the industry will be better than expected.
In addition to financial support, the future of journalism should also rely on the collaborative efforts of students and professionals. As a student writer, I think that it would be more than beneficial to have local papers come together and work with upcoming journalists to create news. Not only will there be a network of information to go around, but the industry will definitely benefit from rejuvenated news from both levels of reporting, not to mention that business will look better on paper.
I like the idea of “collaborative efforts” and paid models. I think it has all the potential to work, and work well. We no longer can afford ‘Citizen Kane’ editors and owners competing with each other. The news needs to be in the right hands that will do only good with it.