The Future of Journalism and News in American Society

Posted on December 8, 2009 by tabdrakhmanova1

News outlasts journalism in print or on-line, news was around before television, radio, and even the printing press. When people are in need of information and current events, they find it, or the data finds people. This premise is not expressed to undervalue the American Journalism, just to say that this trend like all others, has its place in the dynamic life of news in society. News will remain an integral part of any modern society, and it is not dependent on it’s means of communication.

“The Reconstruction of America Journalism” by Downie and Schudson is an important work in the Columbia Journalism Review. This article commemorates the history of journalism in America, documents its transformation to the present, and records the charter into the future. Journalism in America is changing, it has to, because American society is changing.

The technological revolution is still affecting aspects of our society and newspapers are just registering the shock and fear of the internet now. The internet offers everything, including the news, from different perspectives, in different languages, from different places, and this information is almost always free. Even the The New York Times can’t compete with that by continuing to operate the way it did ten years ago.

News is dynamic, so doesn’t it make sense that the people and companies that publish it should also have the flexibility and ability to change?

The answer is simple, they do, they have to, and they will. The only setback, if you can call it that here, is that news organizations became too comfortable where they are. For example, The New York Times did not have many worries when they could guarantee that Chanel, Chopard, and Tiffany & Co. would spends thousands on ad space.  Editors were comforted in their limits, or lack thereof, and their expanding offices and staff. It seems like they forgot what it was like to fight for what they had, and in that way, they became lax in their reporting as well.

Now, things are changing, the internet is taking charge, and some journalists still don’t know how they fit into the equation. Others, are marking their territory in the non-profit journalism sector, niche media, and the new addition, bloggers. Not only are these internet journalists utilizing new resources, such as search engines like Google, they are also fierce in their fields.

Niche media journalists delve into, and command their topics; thereby offering more insight into a certain topic, such as local news, that larger newspapers would not be able to afford so much research and space for. There is an interesting trend to be considered through popular niche media outlets that were set up recently, a surprising number of them are actually concentrating on news in the political sphere. This seems to be a backward trend because political parties were the first owners of large newspapers. The news will get out, the outlets just change throughout the years.

Still, I believe that niche media in print has a chance to survive, if publishers tweak its appeal and availability. For example, The Financial Times is still invaluable to certain clientèle, who also use Blackberries, so they could make money by charging for their application to the smartphone. Other publications can do the same for I phones or even the Amazon Kindle, they just have to be open to the new trends.

If you want to stay in print and stay lucrative, I think you have to learn to share, and then save. For example, two newspapers that compete for the same readers could work together for certain features, or share the Arts section. That way, the section can get the attention and the reporting that it deserves. By utilizing this method there will be more depth in the stories or sections, and publications won’t have to stretch their resources severely.

Journalism should take back the word “investigative”. This costs a lot of money for a single paper to pay for, but it is still imperative that an article be investigative. For this demand, there should be a supply of on hire investigative research. Think the Associated Press, on local terms, and not selling entire articles, but just lucrative information, background or whatever is relevant, leaving reporters to complete the articles.

Then again, you don’t necessarily have to change, great newspapers can still be the best at what they do and sell because of that, so in that case, they should do what they do best and publish.

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What is Available and What is Viable: The Future of American Journalism

Posted on December 8, 2009 by mpozin

The old way has gone kaput. Well, nearly. The changing face of modern day interaction, with its ubiquitous lightning-quick information access rates, has began to reveal the wear and tear of the familiar newsroom. Citizen journalists, widespread (underpaid) freelancers, niche media publications, declining advertising revenue, free instant online aggregation and access to news media—the old way of news publications is under attack from all sides. Truly, it only has one solution—revamp; revamp its style, its flair, its strategy, its focus, its approach. Just about everything, really.

What is the old way? It is the newsroom, a closed and centralized behind the scenes meeting room, with a bunch of highly experienced journalists debating over which top stories to cover. It is the sheets of paper, passing on top of roll after roll, and being stamped with these very top stories, only for the final product to be dropped in neatly plastic-rope bound piles near newsstands. It is the newsstands in general, the personal coin-operated found on obscure street corners, and the seemingly arbitrarily placed metal shacks found on the streets, from which, in addition to the paper and a magazine, a candy bar is simply undeniable.
Presently, in addition to the aforementioned examples, numerous journalistic ventures, both large and small, have been launched. The competition for the ‘old way’ has long since changed the playing field. The old way, in what can likely be attributed to their stubbornness and/or insufficient spirit of ‘pioneerism’, fell behind and is forced to play catch up. More (worrisomely) so, they are forced to play catch up in a game they never learned, nor were designed to play.

Alas, we have bid goodnight to candles in favor of bulbs, and turned our ears to the sounds of pianos over that of the harpsichord. Lifestyle and habits, no matter how uniformly adopted, are replaced; sometimes, virtually overnight. We can similarly pay our respects rigid structure. Professional reporters will always be in demand, particularly for guidance, perhaps even to the extent of rigorous apprenticeships. They, however, will be few in number relative to those that will be involved in the collective journalistic product.

Rest assured, we will not fall into a period of intellectual or news-reporting resembling the Dark Ages. Overly optimistic or not, it is a legitimate inference that those presently redesigning, and perhaps even dedicating, their lives and careers to promote the betterment of the future of journalism will not quit if the traditional face of their “official” competition finishes withering.
It is nigh time that a new organization popped up, one that provides a novel method to the present madness. Don’t get me wrong, it is loads of fun finding new information anywhere and everywhere you go (or surf, rather). From coverage/biased reviews (or shameless self promotion) of large scale artistic events to passion-driven exposés of a neighbor’s elaborate dastardly deeds, the internet is speckled with awareness-increasing opportunities of all shapes and sizes. But it is disorganized: structure is required. The lesson, however, must be learned from the old way. Too much structure, too much rigidity, and the system will be unable to adapt to the next best (or new) thing.

With so many new endeavors, it is difficult to predict what will function and what will fail at launch. ‘Function’ should not be confused with ‘succeed’—a grand idea or a stroke of luck, such as recognition/exposure by another well-known source is not necessarily sufficient for the ‘subscription’ or interest in this particular endeavor to skyrocket. The wide spectrum of former candidates for the Republican and Democratic tickets for the 2008 Presidential Elections are all too familiar with the lack of unconditional guarantee accompanying an endorsement. Wait and see, and act quickly.
It is precisely for this that a new organization is necessary. The breadth of this rigid-less organization must reach far enough, potentially across all spectrums, thereby shattering the negative connotations associated with monopoly. Funding for it will stem from subscriptions, for those interested in hyper-oriented news: local, business, sports, international, and so on and so forth.The mission would be to cover everything, with an army of thousands, and on every single continent; a Wikipedia for the nightly news at nine, if you will, one however, with a more streamlined system for flagrant disregards/abuses of journalistic integrity. The bigger projects get voted on, with volunteers in appropriate areas, both geographically and of expertise. If this eventually replaces the remaining forms of news coverage, it only seems fair to establish new incentives for funding, perhaps even a general umbrella fund for coverage, aided with tax exemptions and bias-free subsidies. Users will be charged mere pennies for reading articles. With sufficient readership, this (slightly ominous sounding) organization will generate even more funds.

Cliché warning: The future is uncertain. But we must embrace both what is available and what is viable. There are literally thousands of willing reporters, scaled of course by the scope of their work and their talent. They are waiting to be a part of something, something bigger than them. Something bigger than what is failing now. Something that will be literally too big to fail, as it will owe its inherent inability to fail to its sheer size, a Medusa’s head of independently covered news. It is grand, it is bold, it is ambitious, but most of all, it is doable. No one should be denied the ability to discover the world around them, be it from home or their new nifty electronic newspaper replacement. Now what are we going to do with distribution and property rights? Oy gevalt.

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The Future of American Journalism

Posted on December 8, 2009 by mlipsius

Our Evolving Media

New eras herald different revolutions.  To impede change is to impede progress in most cases, and tends to be quite futile.  We can go far if we swim with the tide; we just may drown if we try to swim against it.  When we go with the flow, we reach some destination, we arrive safely on dry land, even if on the wrong bank. 

The media has taken a life and course of its own.  Citizen journalism is on the rise.  Journalism has become less professional, often taking blog form and taking advantage of other features the internet has to offer, but this has also made it more democratic.  As was articulated in the articles we read in the beginning of the semester, “Tiananmen + Twitter = Tehran.”  As the people begin to recognize their own power to disseminate news, naturally, they try to make it more economical.  If the professional reporter has become superfluous, then it’s time to cut.  The current recession probably also played a roll, contributing to more frugal sentiments. 

In their article, “The Reconstruction of American Journalism,” Leonard Downie Jr. and Michael Schudson offer a solution that seems quite sound to me:  collaborative pro-am journalism in which the citizens, the amateurs, gather the information, and the professionals revise and edit it so that it is “fit to print.”  As technologies have become more accessible, citizens’ contributions to media have grown significantly. 

Another dilemma faced by journalists is that content online is free.  If journalism is not profitable, it cannot survive.  This is a question of economics.  The economy functions on a system of supply and demand.  At present, the supply is exceeding the demand, and therefore, a price cannot be set.  We might solve this by making the news less freely accessible, but that would probably entail shutting down the world wide web, a highly implausible scenario.  Or we might let what is free be free, and find niches or more exclusive things that people will pay for because they cannot get this information anywhere else.

The hard news, basic events or famous statements, like what is going on with the healthcare bill or the war in Afghanistan, will be very available.  This should not be a focus of all major media.  What is now mainstream journalism should become its own niche, its own monopoly.  The basic information will still be available, but a more researched report with expert opinions should not be as accessible, and that can be charged for.  While the basic information will be available for free, a more extensive and thoroughly researched report should be done by a more limited amount of papers, maybe only very few.  Once this kind of journalism becomes its own niche, it will be easier to charge for it.

Or, perhaps something like the opinions section, op-ed and editorials, should not be included with other online content.  This should be available only in print form.  If the New York Times posted only “News” online, but omitted other sections from the online content, the sneak peak might whet readers’ appetite and give the readers a reason to still by the print edition as well.  Print sales might then increase.

Something else that might be wise to revive is narrative journalism.  This is a much more engaging form to read, and if you can hook your reader, you can sell your paper.  Stylistically interesting and captivating articles should be reserved only for the print edition, accessible only for a fee.

This final point will sound drastic, and perhaps iconoclastic to any journalism devotee, but maybe we should just stand by idly and let what happens happen.  Is there enough of a demand for journalism to flourish without any intervention?  If there is no demand, then maybe there is no need.  When people stopped using candle light and moved on to electricity, it would not have been a good idea to promote candles and discourage the use of electricity in the name of keeping things the way they always were.  If traditional journalism is like that candle, maybe it would be best if we just let it not die, but certainly take more of a back seat.  But I don’t think that will happen.  I think that if we really decreased supply, demand will remain constant, and will not let journalism die.  And maybe the fear of losing journalism, and newspapers, will stimulate a greater demand and give the current situation the boost it needs.

Before we ask how we might preserve traditional journalism, we must ask what is the purpose of journalism.  And if it can be better served through some new venue, we must be prepared to move on.

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The Future of American Journalism

Posted on December 8, 2009 by bmohamed

While riding New York City’s subway system on a daily basis, it’s common to see passengers enjoying the daily paper at all times of the day. This has been a long time tradition for many years and it is still in effect. However with todays technologically advancing society, there is fear that the future for journalism may be dying. The online movement has become the new fad which is already bumping the newspaper industry into the dumps. I believe that the future for journalism will be technologically inspired but there will always remain the tradition of a printed piece.

There are many different outlets in which people get their news which iclude broadcast, internet, radio, the crawl, and finally print. With such a wide variety to choose from, it is only natural that the source which is more favorable would rise above all of the others. As of today the internet is where most people retrieve their news because it is literally right at your fingertips and also free. When people hear the word free, there is almost no competition left. Why should you pay for print when you can read the news for free at your own convience? This is why many would question the future of journalism. Another factor which makes online news more effective is because it is interactive, this changes and broadens the demograhics of who is reading the news. Originally, the news was seen as something that the elderly was affiliated with but now that online news has incorporated more multimedia the younger generations are becoming viewers. Multimedia include images, slideshows,videos, podcasts blogs, twitter and facebook. I feel that we are at the point of no return, meaning that since the online movement has been introduced we can not go back to just reading print instead we can expand upon the movement to make readers continue to enjoy reading the news online but also have the printed version co-exist.

In the Columbia Journalism Review, the article “The Reconstruction of American Journalism” by Leonard Downie Jr. and Micheal Schudson in November/December 2009  goes on to say “at the same time, digital technology–joined by innovation and entrepreneurial energy–is opening new possibilities for reporting. Journalists can research much more widely, update their work repeatedly, follow it up more thoroughly, verify it more easily, compare it with competitors, and have it enriched and fact-checked by readers.”  This suggests the versatility of the online movement and I agree with this because there are many challenges facing the printed news organization including proliferation, splintering, fragments of news sources, integrity, credability, interactive, and quality. I feel that the future of journalism will rely on the internet in order to make the news publicly known.

The avenues for finding news related material has become so widespread, you can even type into youtube a specific event and find the broadcasted video link. Newspapers have homepages which have the exact same stories covered in the printed edition. Bloggers even write up their own pieces which the public has also taken interest in reading. There will always be those who say “if its on paper its legit”  which is why I feel that in the future, it will remain as is where the paper and the internet will both be the sources of journalism. The only modification which i think would benefit the printed paper would be to focus more on local news and international news.

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A Possible Future for American Journalism

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Simona Taver
The Internet has been both great and terrible for journalism. On the one hand, information has never been more accessible– available in such large quantities and to so many people. On the other hand, the free and unlimited access to information means that consumers of news no longer need to pay media outlets if they want to find out what’s going on in the world. This new era of hyper-communication has stirred fears within the news and media industries that journalists, the original mass-media messengers, will eventually become obsolete.
 
According to seasoned journalists Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, however, there is no danger of that happening– if anything, journalism is needed even more these days, with the endless pouring-in of information from innumerable sources. In their book, “The Elements of Journalism,” former director of Xerox PARC John Seeley Brown is quoted as saying, “What we need in the new economy and the new communications culture is sense making. We have a desperate need to get some stable points in an increasingly crazy world.” Journalism isn’t dying– it simply needs to be restructured to adapt to the new changes in technology and information-sharing. With that thought in mind, I have come up with a few proposals for sustaining journalism in America.
 
Trying to restore the former sales figures for print publications is futile. Print media will not return to what it once was– at least, not in the foreseeable future. But this does not mean print media has to die altogether. Not every American has a personal computer or gets their news from the internet. In addition, there is value in having information in tangible form, in being able to carry it around. Newspapers can survive in print… with a few format changes.
 
According to “The Reconstruction of American Journalism,” an article in the November/December 2009 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, newspapers in small towns that have very few alternative media sources have so far managed to protect the majority of their advertising and print circulation. If the same principles of these local papers were applied to all print newspapers throughout the country, perhaps all of them would be able to stay in print. I propose that print newspapers be converted into thinner, more compact publications run by small staffs, with local news as the primary focus.
 
There would be a second benefit to switching to more local coverage. According to “The Reconstruction of American Journalism,” local news coverage has seen a decline in recent years: “In most cities, fewer newspaper journalists were reporting on city halls, schools, social welfare, life in the suburbs, local business, culture, the arts, science, or the environment, and fewer were assigned to investigative reporting.” More thorough coverage of local issues might keep local news reporting from disintegrating altogether.
 
Meanwhile, the bulk of large-scale news reporting would migrate to the internet. Comprehensive news sites would contain news articles, features and news analyses, and would be highly interactive. Consumer participation would be encouraged, and citizen journalism, user videos, comments, and input would be regularly featured, with the disclaimer that these submissions are products of citizen participation and not of professional journalists. 
 
These sites would also play another role: that of news aggregates. In the November/December 2009 CJR article “A Press Without Its Public,” Paul Starr writes that news sites alienate consumers, who are more likely to go to “specialized sites that are often superior to the comparable sections of their local newspaper. But unlike a newspaper, the sites do not expose them to news about their community or the world.” By linking to sites that focus on specialized topics, news sites can offer readers the ‘best of both worlds’– that is, in-depth information on their topics of interest and coverage of world news and events.

 All of these methods that I have mentioned above would be designed to attract as many hits as possible for news sites. This in turn would enable the sites to at least partially carry themselves through advertising. There have been proposals that publications should  be funded by the government and  private donations. I don’t believe that this is the best option for news organizations. As Leonard Downie Jr. and Michael Schudson wrote in “The Reconstruction of American Journalism,” government funding may make it more difficult for publications to report against said establishment. And while private donations are useful, relying on the generosity of donors is not a reliable business model in the long run, and may invite corruption. While donations can be encouraged, it’s important that news and media organizations be self-sustaining. 
 
Television journalism would undergo some format changes as well. The days of TV journalists being first to report “breaking news” are over. Since news can be updated immediately on the internet, TV news programs could shift their focus more to analysis of the news that has broken, in cooperation with internet sources and citizen participation. To keep audiences tuned in, TV news programs could also feature live studio interviews and discussions with the individuals who were featured in the news, or with witnesses to events that were covered.

Though the structure of American journalism may be changing, in the larger sense nothing has really changed. Information has always been out there– the internet has just created a wider outlet for it. And while the internet has caused a lot of problems for print and broadcasting organizations, it has also created a lot of opportunities, many of which are yet to be explored. Perhaps the business models news and media organizations adopt in the future will even strengthen journalism in America.

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Journalism. Past, present, and future.

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Richard Ortega

For as long as I can remember my father always wakes up to a cup of cup of coffee and a newspaper.  Every morning he sits at the table and reads every page front and back.  Sometimes as he reads he nods in approval other times he just smiles and turns the page.  I grew up understanding that newspapers were the end all, be all way to staying informed with current affairs both nationally and internationally.

Similar to my dad I too wake up to a cup of coffee and the news, minus the paper.  He sits on one end of the table and turns each page nodding and smiling.  I sit on the opposite end of the table and slide my finger across the screen of my iPhone nodding and smiling.  My dad and I represent to generations of readers we represent two different generations of citizens trying to stay informed with society.  On one hand my dad gets his news from the same source every morning: the newspaper and its journalist.  On the other I pick and choose where I’m going to get my information from whether it be NYT.com, or my new favorite blog.

My vision of the future of journalism is both bright and dim.  The light at the end of the tunnel for journalism comes from all the new media outlets that are being developed on a constant basis.  Twitter, iPhone applications, and YouTube are just some of the new ways news is reaching the masses.  Twitter alone has turned news into an instant event.  Once upon a time news traveled by word of mouth and eventually made its way on to print form and from there was distributed for all to read.  Now President Obama can declare a war on North Korea and the entire United States can know about it in as little as a few seconds via Twitter.  Incredible.

The shadow that lingers around this light is cast by one of journalism’s basic principles.  Integrity.  Without truth the foundation of journalism wouldn’t be concrete. Stephen Glass, and James Frye are examples of journalists who not only have tainted the image of major news publications but have also diminished the credibility of journalism.

Editors filter what journalists report and they ensure that what citizens read in the newspaper is in no way shape or form a fabrication.  What would happen if editors didn’t do their job?  What would happen if journalist were allowed to report and write on anything they deemed appropriate without being questioned?  What if everyone became a journalist but there were no editors?

Blogs, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and websites like Wikipedia have empowered and motivated everyday citizens to become journalists.  Anyone can observe, report and share information in a moment’s notice.  What’s scary is that without any type of regulation who’s to say that what’s being reported is actually true?  What good is it to have a lot of outlets to share information if the information being shared is false?  Citizen journalism is a double edge blade, on one side everyone being a journalist is good because the reality of life is that news can happen anywhere at anytime and having a lot of journalists reporting means no news will go unreported.  However, with so many citizen journalists who will their editors be?

Magazines have an advantage over newspapers in that they don’t report on day-to-day events but rather feature articles that focus on in depth analysis and details.  This type of reporting takes more time to produce and requires more research than the average citizen journalist is willing to conduct or even knows how to gather.  This process eliminates the threat of everyday citizens replacing magazine journalists.

Subscriptions are the biggest threat to the magazine industry.  Subscriptions not only provide revenue for the magazine but its number indicates how popular the magazine is amongst readers.  Having to keep up with the changing times has driven magazines to provide a lot of their content for free online. Even though some articles are available for free subscription customers benefit from receiving their magazines on a regular basis at very low rate.  Some magazine subscriptions cost as little as $12 a year.

Newspapers will never cease to exist but how many copies are printed each day will change.  The number will die down drastically as younger generations concerned with the environment and concerned with finding a more efficient way to receive news discover the lasting benefits of mobile news.  Magazine subscriptions will remain the same or change very little.  I do believe that the number of magazines geared towards niche audiences will change.  For example there won’t be two or three magazines geared towards men’s fashion.  Magazines with smaller subscriptions will not be able to survive the harsh economic times.

The biggest change the media industry will experience will be an ownership change.  The owner of media will slowly but surely be the government.  This economy holds no prisoners and the media is no different.  Without government aid and intervention the media industry will be swimming against the current.  The government owning the media will not affect the news being reported.  Readers will begin to think that the government will regulate what gets reported on and how but in reality the government’s only effect on the industry will be to help keep it a float which in turn will keep the American people hopeful that all will not be lost in this on going recession.

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The Reconstruction of American Journalism

Posted on December 7, 2009 by atavoularis

American Journalism has entered a period of great reconstruction. The presence of the internet, where newspapers have become virtually available and free of charge, has caused print articles to be in decline. This has caused massive job decreases and an increased dependency on technological advances as a means to get news. With new innovations on how to gain and distribute news coverage, the issues of credibility and originality are constantly at stake. Surviving newspapers need to keep up with the modern forms of how media coverage is spread in order to stay afloat.

Although there has been a significant shift toward digital media, there will always be a future for traditional newspapers. However, the media has to reinvent itself  in order to keep up with new news outlets. Smaller staffs and decreasing revenue don’t have to be detrimental to newspapers as long as these print news organizations work with other businesses that are keeping up with present times, such as with online news, television, and radio outlets that relay local, regional and international news.

The only way to do this would be government involvement in increasing collaborative efforts among newspaper organizations and “startup online news organizations, non-profit investigative reporting projects, public broadcasting stations, university run news services, community news sites with citizen participation, and bloggers” according to an article published in the Columbia Journalism Review on The Reconstruction of American Journalism. If journalism became more of a collaborative effort, news media would become a more stable and credible outlet for information.

Credibility is a big issue, especially with the evolving blogosphere, where information gets skewed and scattered, and coverage becomes less and less reliable. Other outlets such as twitter and university newspapers, where many college students relay news information also add a degree of bias, and also decrease credibility in reporting news. Increased government involvement in the helping out of struggling print news organizations would be a positive motivation for news media. Since there is a collective notion that traditional newspapers add a degree of value and believability in reporting, government involvement would help many local and regional newspapers and startups stay in publication. These newspapers would in turn still be able to offer news coverage that would not be covered otherwise. While the government still funds support for news, reporting having to do with arts and sciences, increased governmental support, without any direct influences to shift news one way or another should be funneled into the fledgling system of news reporting. According to an article published by Reuters, “Relying on government help raises ethical questions for the press, whose traditional role has been to operate free from government influence as it tries to hold politicians accountable to the people who elected them. Even some publishers desperate for help are wary of this route.” While this issue of ethics is at hand, and we can see how this would be problematic for credibility, there have been other ways the government can get involved without having direct influence and increased bias, and that is through incentives such as tax breaks, and job training for journalists as a method to save the down and out news organizations that have become more and more extinct in recent years, and will help them save face as trustworthy news organizations.

In keeping with these new incentives, job training that the government would provide can help add a monumental increase in the credibility and professionalism of American journalism. With pro-journalists taking on amateur journalists, the future of journalism and printed word can be and will be salvaged. Doing this would not only make news organizations more trustworthy, but would add a degree of professionalism as well, where amateurs such as freelancers and bloggers can gain more expertise with the aid of professionals showing them the ropes. Professional journalists also have much to gain from amateurs as well. In a time when news coverage has become more and more interactive, these amateurs, who are people considered to be rather technologically savvy as part of the new generation of 21st century journalism, can help some of the old fashioned newspaper reporters gain modern day know-how in covering news. Whether it is through blogs, tweets or facebook comments, there have been many more outlets for getting news out there quicker and faster. College students and universities offer programs and have their own local newspaper organizations where this type of pro-am journalism is able to flourish. In gaining the ability to report local news professionally as learned from professors and journalists that teach them these skills, journalists of the future will gain the know-how in reporting for larger organizations in the future, and teachers of traditional journalism can gain access to newer means of gaining and spreading news. Keeping this up is very important and it is up to these two dynamics to collaborate and learn from one another in order to save face and keep news journalism reliable during its time of reconstruction.

The key element in the restructuring of American journalism relies heavily on the collaboration between local, regional, and international journalists and the news organizations that support them. The media, government and businesses alike need to pool resources together in order to keep up with the times. Newer forms of coverage need to be embraced, while still maintaining the values of traditional reporting, and through these joint methods, we will see a positive restructuring of American journalism for the future.

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New media: the mode, the means, and the members

Posted on December 7, 2009 by afong

As I sat in the waiting room of a financial services firm in Manhattan, I was surprised that the coffee table was not sprawled with the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, or BusinessWeek. Rather, there was an Amazon Kindle.

As news moves online, newspapers will become obsolete. People are already seeing the versatility of a handheld device that can give the viewer the breaking news of the last hour. Buying the newspaper meant reading the news of yesterday, and paying for content that might not be of interest (for example, the sports section). Not only is online content greener for the environment, it is also more tailored to individual interests.

Google will play a large part in the movement towards online news content. Using Google News, the individual user can modify the news that appears on the website. Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, Inc. described a device that “knows who I am, what I like, and what I have already read.” While Google might be the pioneer in this technology (Google News already supports many of these news update features, including a section for local news) it will not be the only one. Various companies will contract with news organizations and blogs, offering news from a variety of sources to its subscribers.

For subscribers to this service, some news will be part of a monthly subscription package, while others will give only a free preview, and cost only a few cents to read the article in its entirety. Eric Schmidt also envisions a new advertising scheme to pay for this model. As the news is already tailored to the specific user, so is the advertisement. As newspapers had once relied on advertising for revenues, so can this online model.

Youtube will also become more integrated into Google, and multimedia news content would be viewed alongside text. Multimedia could serve as a check on the integrity of news sources. With the click of a button, a user can compare the coverage of an event to those of other sources. Users would also be able to comment on the coverage and bias of the article, and view the comments of others. Online content has already facilitated the media’s interaction with the public, and it will only become more integrated as a way for people to participate in global and local affairs.

Magazines, like newspapers, will also move online, cutting the costs of printing and deriving its profit solely from subscriptions. Magazines, as an example of niche media, will likely earn more revenues than newspapers that cater to a wider readership, because readers are more willing to pay for content that is unique to a source.

As the news becomes more accessible, there will be a new group of citizen journalists who cover news that they encounter every day. News stories could be derived from an uncommonly large amount of Twitter posts on a particular subject, or from simply an occurrence in the neighborhood. The byline for these hyperlocal news stories will be likely be shared by the investigative journalist and a professional editor, through pro-am journalism. The background of the journalist covering the story will be transparent for all of the readers.

Newsrooms will likely cut their full-time staff. Special stories will be done by a team of freelance journalists, or will be contracted out to smaller, more niche newsrooms. The professional journalist will become the investigative journalist, paid from a public fund for investigative journalism. These investigative organizations will function in the way that ProPublica, an independent, non-profit newsroom functions. The public fund will disperse money to worthy proposals from independent reporters or news organizations.

The Texas Tribune, a web-based newsroom that recruited its professional journalists from full-time positions at newspapers, is experimenting on the concept that an investigative niche blog can function through funding from non-profit organizations and well-compensated editors.

As Downie and Schudson suggest in the November/December 2009 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, universities should play a larger role in local reporting through supporting investigative reporting projects with facilities and financial capital. Elementary schools can also support the cause by integrating current events into the daily curriculum. When news consumers are an aging population, the younger generation should relearn the role the press plays in society. News will again be an integral part of their education and daily lives.

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The Future of Journalism

Posted on December 7, 2009 by Dave Feldman

In my junior year of studying journalism at Baruch College, my copy editing professor, Benjamin Hudson, tried to assure me and the rest of my classmates by saying, “I think if you are all determined enough, there are ways to crack the nut.”

Journalism is a profession like a living organism, and it will do whatever it takes to survive. This includes adapting to a dramatically shifted environment where money from advertising and hired staff members are being lost at rapid rates. Although the situation looks bleak right now. I believe that journalism will not only survive, but wind up stronger then ever in the years to come. The quality of the printed word will be richer and deeper as students learn skills in a more hands-on environment. As bloggers and amateur journalists interact and cooperate with professional journalists, there will be more coverage in local news, and the public will find a new loyalty in the field. Lastly, journalism will continue its transition to find new formats and mediums that appeal to news consumers, and eventually, we will stop the hemorrhaging of money by creating a product worth purchasing.

The current education system geared towards journalism is making bold, positive progress not only to make future journalists accountable members of the media, but to facilitate change to a more online-based media. Students are still taught by professors who have worked within the press, and are usually required to complete a four-month-or-so internship with a media publication. Now, however, there is even more being done to train students. According to the article, “The Reconstruction of American Journalism,” by Downie and Schudson, more and more students’ work have begun to contribute both in print and online to local newspapers. The article cited Florida as an example, but I myself have contributed to a local newspaper in Jersey City under the guidance of my professor.

The article also cites examples of centers for investigative journalism being forged out of universities. I can see this becoming an increasing trend in the future because of the growing demand for local news coverage. In Jan Schaffer’s piece, “Follow the Breadcrumbs,” the author refers to the hole in local news coverage created by massive staff cuts. Students will become an imperative tool to fill this hole, and while many news sources cannot afford to pay freelance students at this time, I believe that this, too, will end once the consumer’s appetite for local news is satisfied.

I believe that education and journalism will make headway by teaching students the tools of the internet to give consumers a fuller, more interactive multimedia experience. I have already witnessed the addition of multimedia classes at Baruch, and I imagine that soon, many more net-based classes will become part of the curriculum. At this current time, students in several journalism courses contribute to a school-based blog site. This is a good start, but I envision that soon, professors will encourage their students to start up their own blogs using web-design and multimedia classes, each with a different angle on local-news coverage.

Once students play a more active and independent role in amateur local news coverage, the pro-am network will be so readily available that local news can be covered faster and more accurately. This cooperation is mentioned in the article, “The Future is Mutualized” by Alan Rusbridger. This is not to say that fact-checking on both the professional and amateur level won’t be a priority, but because the future of amateur journalists will be students who are taught to be accountable, there will be less room for error in reporting. Problems like those discussed in Russel Working’s “A Failure of Skepticism,” or in the story, “Myth-Making in New Orleans” by Brian Thevenot, or Raquel Christie’s “Double Whammy” (the latter two stories from the American Journalism Review) will dissipate. A catalog of journalistic disasters ought to be created because students who learn about past mistakes are far-less-likely to repeat them.

A strengthened, more accountable news network will bring back local news, but the model that news is delivered in will also have to change. Schaffer mentions that the “something-for-everyone, grocery-store model of newspapers no longer meets consumers’ needs.” The fact is, some people prefer a wide-range of national, international, and local news where some people just want niche news for things like celebrity gossip, sports, or politics. Journalism’s future on the internet will be dedicated to niche-media. The trend of niche-media on the web is just beginning with sites like TexasTribune.org, which is devoted strictly to Texas politics. Printed newspapers in the future will exist for the public that prefers a broad-range of news and likes a little bit of news from every aisle journalism has to offer. Newspapers will be more valuable in the future when professional journalists have a wider network to work with, and specialized web media will be valuable for the people it serves. There will truly be something for everyone on both the web and in print, and because both can exist and even cooperate, news will never become too fragmented or too general.

News consumers will experience an endless range of stories to be covered both in print and on the web, all of which will be linked with the most influential trend in media since the start of the 21st century: social networking. According to Alexa.com, a website that ranks the top-visited websites from month to month, Facebook and Twitter placed numbers 2 and 14, respectively, on the list for December. Neither of the two websites will ever be a substitute for real, concrete reporting: the allotted 140 characters on Twitter is hardly enough to produce an informative news story. However, both websites have allowed for rapid sharing of information between journalists and citizens alike. I believe that in the future, someone will create a website that allows people to gather various news articles from across the web, whether it be niche-media or otherwise, that will not just be limited to print but also viral content like Youtube (rated number 4). Users will also be able to add in reporting from their own blogs. This website will allow for a D.I.Y. newspaper made by news consumers from their computers at home. Finally, each individual e-paper will be able to be submitted from person to person via social networking.

Rather than asking for philanthropic donations like Downie and Schudson, journalists must be willing to change a model that has existed since the 19th century. I believe that no firewall can ever truly separate the opinions of the donor from the words written by a recipient, and in an era where funding from advertising is scarce, we may have the most credible and bias-free news yet. Journalism will survive, but it will come with a major shift in the way it is thought about. It will first start in the classroom and eventually lead to a more cooperative, tech-savy network of journalists who cover a broad range of topics. The gap in local reporting will cease to be, leaving a more satisfied public of news consumers. And finally, social networking will prove to be the biggest tool for journalism since the invention of the internet.

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American Journalism

Posted on December 7, 2009 by llentine

American journalism is changing, especially with newspapers. With staff cuts, new ways of funding and a change in demographics, newspapers are shrinking or essentially dying out. How can we change this? We can’t.

Some might propose that newspapers should not allow their reporting to be published in multimedia, so that if the public wants to read that newspaper’s report, they would have to buy and read the newspaper. However, this would never work because of the Internet’s role in this day-in-age. People could easily put on the internet certain articles from newspapers, or summarize them. Therefore those who haven’t bought a newspaper would still be able to read them. According to the Columbia Journalism Review, entrepreneurs have actually used this span of the internet to suggest that consumers of news could allow what they are reading on the internet to be monitored, that way “news organizations could sell highly targeted groups of readers to advertise at high prices.” The problem with this is once again the internet. With the reputation of the internet having access to many sites that offer free news, it is impossible to know whether or not this solution would work.

Another tantalizing proposal to save American journalism could be to build up local news by working with the journalism programs at local colleges and universities. Many young reporters that work for their schools’ newspaper have open eyes to the local news in their areas. By collaborating with these school newspapers, these young journalists can give a fresh, young insight into the local news for newspapers without the newspapers having to spend too much paying them, depending on the collaboration deal. The students need to build portfolios for themselves, so they need this job as much as the newspapers, who cannot afford to hire full time local news reporters.  They could even help with television and radio coverage of local news, since these are the media outlets which the Columbia Journalism Review reports do little or not local news reporting. With classrooms in colleges and universities having access to multimedia equipment such as digital and video cameras and school radio stations, students can easily report on local news and collaborate with other sources of news to get it out.

Another possibility to this local news gap in American journalism is the internet. Although it seems problematic to independent news reporting because of it’s accessibility to free news, the internet attracts many bloggers who often write about the news. Newspapers can hire these bloggers and still get their local news without paying the bloggers much. Doing so not only helps newspapers build on the local level, but also helps them inject new ways of producing news. However, this has its flaws as well. Although many free-lancers, bloggers and students would probably not mind at first being paid little or nothing at all to contribute to the news, they will of course eventually. It is hard to say that every young reporter or blogger would want to stick to the old stereotype of interning for free just for credit. With the times changing, so are people and especially in these economic times, one cannot blame these writing aspirantswho want something more than credit for their hard work.

The problem with American journalism is that there are many proposals for a solution, but they are not guaranteed to fix the decline of newspapers. I believe that newspapers will always be on this downward slope as the years go by, although they may not disappear completely.

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A Future For Journalism: Bright, If A Little Unclear

Posted on December 7, 2009 by rhonorv

How many people with computer access will reach for a conventional dictionary or encyclopedia when the information is quite literally and weightlessly at their fingertips? Is it so much of a surprise, then, that fewer and fewer people are starting newspaper subscriptions, and more are cancelling them in favor of getting their news from the web?

Newspapers are clinging to readers in whatever ways they can. I recently endured no less than 15 minutes of pleading and cajoling and offers of a subscription at 75% off from a New York Times rep when I cancelled my subscription for the entirely valid reason of leaving the country for 6 months. But unfortunately for the Times rep, even though the fight of the newspapers may not be officially over yet, in a large part the battle has already been decided.

So instead of looking at the restructuring of American journalism from the somewhat depressing angle of salvaging the newspaper, why do we not examine it from the perspective of improving online media sources to the point where they can serve as a truly legitimate successor to papers? Leonard Downie Jr. and Michael Schudson’s “The Reconstruction of American Journalism” in the November/December 2009 edition of The Columbia Journalism Review is extremely valuable for the amount of information and insight into the issues it provides, but it does not cover a major part of the story—rather than saving newspapers, how do we nurse the online sources of news into valuable entities?

The old guard—the well established and suffering papers—are scrambling to do what the younger generation of reporters, and more broadly internet users, has been doing intuitively and successfully for a quite few years now on the Occam’s Razor principle–bringing news to people in an accessible and interactive manner by reporting on what they know and covering the stories they have access to and passion for.

In my opinion, the most sweeping changes in the arena of journalism will not happen with the meticulous battle plans of government subsidies and the demographic strategizing of coverage. It will come, as we have seen in the past few years, from the blogs, the citizen reporters, and the pack mule journalists who can operate a digital SLR camera just as well as their laptops.

This is not to say that ‘professional journalism’ will ever become obsolete. As a species, we have had storytellers since the beginning of memorable time, and this need will never quite be satisfied by one type of voice. And to be honest, it will take a very long time for blogs to garner the same level of respect from all news readers and analyst as established newspapers command. We will always appreciate the experts, the pros—but in a different and perhaps much more accessible way.

The most important aspect of online news sources is also their trump card—online news is equipped with a built in world wide forum. One story can spread, through e-mail and facebook link and twitter and comment, from one end of the world to the other and back in the time it takes for the page to load. With globalization one of the keywords of our era, the global sharing of information has become more important than ever—and that is something a newspaper will never be able to do.

And so it is not just a structural overhaul we are dealing with. I believe that the basic concepts of news and reporting are being redefined, and that the structural changes will follow from these redefinitions; not vice versa. Socially and intellectually, human beings today are different animals than their mid 20th Century counterparts. Newspapers, in all their tangible, clip-able loveliness, are not cutting it in the age of interactivity. From one online story, a reader can follow twelve different concurrent links to other news stories related to it, and in a few minutes can absorb the amount of information it would take a newspaper reader an hour to find in a sectioned, comparatively cumbersome paper.

In all probability the evolution of the newspaper into an artifact of a time less technological is not going to happen tomorrow, or this year, or within the next half-decade. But I do believe that its demise is, for better or worse, in motion. The problem that newspapers are facing doesn’t stem from a lack of experience or innovation so much as it does the confines of the corporate structure of newspapers—when they lose funding, they usually die.

A blog, which is often started with little to no capital and is operated in the same dearth of wealth, does not roll over or cut coverage when it has to go without funding. Perhaps its author forgoes Starbucks for a day or two, or puts in overtime at their day job, but it certainly does not panic and start covering celebrity scandals in lieu of the news it was created to cover.

The ‘new’ news will be defined by four familiar parameters: its levels of interactivity, accessibility, timeliness, and reliability. It is the basis by which we judge our news today, and so the application of these standards to web based news is natural. Let me emphasize, however, that though I do recognize the importance of blogs and I do believe that one day they will supersede newspapers entirely, as a whole they do not satisfy all of these parameters yet. But I have faith that in a few years, as more and more professional journalists and editors join the ranks of web reporters and the public’s esteem for them rises, the online media journalists will look back on their brave blogging predecessors much like we look back on our founding fathers—the visionary upstarts who set in motion the future of an entire country by striking out alone and often against the grain of mainstream society.

A dramatic metaphor, perhaps, but the evolution of how we access and examine our news should be regarded in no less serious a fashion.

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The Reconstruction of American Journalism

Posted on December 7, 2009 by Angel Rosario

            Even though newspapers are struggling right now, they will always be an important part of society. There will also always be an important place for the media online and on television. As is discussed in “The Reconstruction of American Journalism” in the November/December 2009 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, media reporting is a much more open medium than it was in the past. Now, with all of the access to the internet and television, reporting can be done not only by professional journalists, but ordinary people as well. It is easy to post on a website or a blog in order to report the news.

            I believe that newspapers will continue to struggle because there are easier, quicker, and more convenient ways to get the news. There are so many devices that can connect online and get the current news immediately, whereas a newspaper will be slightly old news by the time you get it in the morning.

            The article states: “Reporting is becoming more participatory and collaborative. The ranks of news gatherers now include not only newsroom staffers, but freelancers, university faculty members, students, and citizens.” Online news sites include comment sections, so that supports the statement that news is becoming collaborative. Reporting is becoming more participatory as well because of blogs. The problem with blogs is obvious because they are unfiltered and may provide false information, so the filtering must be done by each individual person who is reading a blog. In the past, only professional media had the opportunity to quickly relay the news to a mass audience, but now, anyone can do it by going online.

            We also read an article about the Texas Tribune and their type of journalism, which is focused on one particular area of the news. That type of journalism may be difficult if a lot of people aren’t interested in what they are reporting. On a news website or a newspaper, there are reports on all types of news, so even if you aren’t interested in something like government, you can browse another section which will be important in adding traffic and money for a news organization. But only people who are interested in the subject will visit or read a website or newspaper that focuses on one subject, and if someone isn’t interested in it, they will not visit the site or buy the paper at all and will not add money to the company. It is a big risk to focus on one area of journalism, so I believe that unless those types of organizations have an owner or donors with a lot of money to burn, those types of organizations will continue to be a niche market in journalism. I don’t believe that journalism will ever become a group of organizations or people that are only focused on one topic of media.

             My vision of the future of journalism is not much different than it is today. I agree with the article in the Columbia Journalism Review when they say that they don’t see newspapers and television news vanishing in the foreseeable future, because they are still a factor in how people get their news. There are still so many people who enjoy getting their news in the morning from a newspaper as much or more than getting it online or through other sources. Even if newspapers continue to struggle as much as they are now, I still see them remaining an option as a way to get news. Online news and blogs will continue to grow as more and more people gain access to the internet. Journalism as a whole will continue to grow as a more open process than it was in the past.

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Shop for a Cause at Columbus Circle

Posted on December 7, 2009 by Miluska Berrospi

Sister Irina in front of the St. Elisabeth Convent booth.The holiday shopping season triggers  panic in many holiday shoppers—long lines, sold-out merchandise, and small crowded stores are enough to blur the true meaning of the season. St. Elisabeth’s booth, located in the Holiday Market at Columbus Circle, just might help inject some much needed inspiration into this season of giving.

“Be grateful for everything you have, good and bad,” said Sister Irina from St. Elisabeth’s convent in Belarus, as she stood outside her small booth in the heart of the market.

Her booth stood out from the rest of the stands, which were filled with food, clothes, and jewelry. Hers did not offer a lavish display of pragmatic, indulgent gifts. Instead, the booth was filled with hand-crafted religious icons, statues, and mural and fresco paintings.

“All of these [goods] were made in our workshops in Belarus,” said Sister Irina in a soft Russian accent.

The proceeds of the sales go to St. Elisabeth’s Convent, located in the Republic of Belarus—a small country between Russia and Poland. The convent was founded in 1999. Its purpose is to “provide spiritual and social help for the sick aIcons made in Belarus.nd the suffering,” as stated in their pamphlet. They do this through various help centers in Belarus; their main one is the National Psychiatric Hospital.

The hospital takes in children and adults suffering from mental and physical illnesses; among them alcoholism, depression, and physical disabilities. A boarding school takes care of children who are orphans or who have been rejected by their parents due to Down’s syndrome, birth traumas, and congenital physical defects.

The convent and its centers operate through donations and workshops. The workshops produce woodwork, furniture, metalwork, candlesticks, and paintings. The goods are made by nuns, patients, children in the convent, and volunteers. All of the goods at the market were shipped straight from the convent in Belarus.

“Not everybody wants these people. They are human beings and there should be someone to take care of them,” said Sister Irina. “We are God’s image. Everything and everyoAll goods were hand-made in the convent.ne should have a purpose.”

Many customers stopped and marveled at the beautifully carved candlesticks and effigies. Some of them made their holiday purchases unaware of the impact their money would have.

To contribute, visit the Holiday Market at Columbus Circle, Mon-Fri, 8a.m- 8p.m; Sun, 10a.m-7p.m, through Dec. 23. You can also support the convent by visiting their website at www.obitel-minsk.by and making a donation.

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Santa Takes a Break at Queens Center

Posted on December 7, 2009 by Jackie

Santa has returned  to Queens Center Mall with its vibrant lighting and flamboyant decorations. Children wait in line with parents to sit on Santa’s lap to tell him what they want for Christmas.Waves of harried shoppers intermittently disturb the peaceful and cheery atmosphere, while onlooking shoppers reminisce about their Christmases past.

Children and parents anxiously wait in line for Santa to return

Children and parents anxiously wait in line for Santa to return.

“I’m reminded of my childhood as I see these kids lining up to see Santa,” said shopper Quil-Vio Monte with a smile. “I wish I could go back to that time and wish for a lifetime supply of soccer equipment.”

According to ShopQueensCenter.com, Queens Center Mall’s official website, Santa arrived in mid-November and will stay until Dec. 24 for the kid in all of us and give out free gifts.

“My parents did not really take me to see Santa when I was younger. Today, I am actually here to buy Nintendo games,” said 15-year old Bryan Facian.”But if I had sat on his lap I would have definitely asked him for free games and candy.”

The snapshots with Santa range anywhere from $19.99 a photo to $39.99 a package which also has some customers thinking twice about partaking in this holiday tradition.

Santa returns from brushing his reindeer.

Santa returns from brushing his reindeer.

“I wanted to take a picture with Santa with my girlfriend but at $20  a photo I don’t think we will,” said 18-year old shopper Kenny Alvarado.

According to About.com, Santa Claus will visit four other places with his reindeer to spread good cheer this holiday season including Bay Terrace in Bayside, Atlas Park in Glendale, Jamaica Multiplex Theatre in Jamaica, and City Ice Pavilion in Long Island City.

Baby riding around the mall in 'fire truck' being pushed by parent after seeing Santa.

Baby riding around the mall in 'fire truck' being pushed by parent after seeing Santa.

” The sight of Mister Santa Claus always gets you in the holiday spirit no matter where you are so he is the one thing that will never get old,” said Monte.

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Memorabilia Show Proves Vinyl Hasn’t Had Final Word

Posted on December 7, 2009 by Simona Taver

musicmemorabilia1

Photos by Simona Taver


Record collectors and audiophiles visited the Music Memorabilia Show on the Upper West Side on Saturday to pore over old records and other music-related merchandise, and to immerse themselves in vinyl nostalgia.

The show, which is actually a sale, is held once a month in a small room at 155 W. 72nd St. by record collector Howard Fischer. Aside from records, Fischer also sells posters, photographs, vintage magazines and sheet music dating back as early as the 1890s.

The office-sized space is packed with large cardboard boxes of records from the 1920s until the mid-1980s, labeled by genre. Among the genres included are jazz, blues, gospel, soul, country, folk, rock’n‘roll (labeled “R+R”), and categories such as Children, Sports, and “TV and Radio.”  Fischer also sells 78s and 45s, and a small collection of CDs and cassette tapes.

Above the boxes of records hang wooden shelves lined with a diverse array of books: titles include Plato’s “Republic,” “Cyrano De Bergerac,” “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” and even “The Complete Book of Bicycling.”

Fischer, who has been selling records for over 25 years, attributes the undying demand for vinyl records to the LP’s unique characteristics. “People like records because they like the covers, they like the liner notes on the back, the quality. The sound of recordings are better for the most part on LPs than they are on CDs… There are many records that you can’t get on CDs that you can get on LPs.” Fischer’s personal record collection contains nearly 2,500 albums.

Though the popularity of CDs transformed record-buying into a niche market, the demand for and output of records increased in the past decade. “There’s a resurgence in production of LPs,” Fischer said. “They say 25% of production is LPs now.” According to Fischer, more college students and younger people have started coming to his sales.

musicmemorabilia2-1 Photos by Simona Taver

“There’s so much stuff out there that you can’t get on iTunes and you can’t get on CD,” said customer and vinyl enthusiast Mark Sparrough at the sale. He considers record collecting “a responsibility as much as it is a hobby… that’s why this stuff is rare. Because most people just toss these records.”

Sparrough, who has been collecting records for the past 12 years, enjoys the aspect of discovering buried musical gems that would otherwise have been lost to history. “It’s kind of like treasure hunting– you just find music that never made it to CD.”  He added, “You’re almost like an archivist in some way, taking music and preserving it.”

Also known as the “Vinyl Junkman,” Fischer is a former lawyer and founder of the short-lived New York Jazz Museum. He has written four books and directed a documentary film in 1998 titled “The Holland Avenue Boys: A Success Story,” that played on over 50 PBS stations. His music memorabilia sales were featured in The New York Daily News and The New York Post.

The Music Memorabilia show occurs on the first or second Saturday of every month in Suite 404 of 155 W. 72nd St., and lasts from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. The next sale will be held on Jan. 9.

 

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The Reconstruction of American Journalism

Posted on December 7, 2009 by ying

“The endgame of newspapers is in sight,” Philip Meyer writes. In his article, “The Elite Newspaper of the Future,” published in the October/November 2008 issue of the American Journalism Review, Meyer addresses the strategy that newspapers must employ to survive in the new age of journalism. The least vulnerable service provided by newspapers, according to Meyer, is community influence, which is gained “by being the trusted source of locally produced news, analysis, and investigative reporting about public affairs.” It is exactly this that Meyer believes should be developed and concentrated upon in newspapers in order for them to survive.

While the result of using this strategy remains unknown, like the CJR article, “The Reconstruction of American Journalism,” Meyer’s article conveys a similar message— that while the future of newspapers is bleak, they will never be fully destroyed; only diminished, by the onslaught of online journalism. Indeed, while many newspapers have made cutbacks and some have gone online completely, local newspapers for small towns and cities still flourish today due to the lack of coverage for those regions. Revenue made by larger newspapers like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times has declined, but by adapting to the changes taking place, namely, creating online versions of their newspapers with intensive multimedia features, they have been able to sustain themselves. In the future of American journalism, it is important for news organizations to embrace technology for all that it has to offer. With changing times, they must change themselves.

As a journalism student at Baruch College who is taking the Perspectives on the News class, reading several news sources is, of course, the only way to analyze how news are really reported. Like many people, I read blogs, but I never just read blogs as my only source of news. In the CJR article, “The Reconstruction of American Journalism,” it explains the “increasingly symbiotic” relationship between the blogosphere and established media. The term, symbiotic, illustrates the existence of a collaborative relationship between two allies, rather than a fight to the finish between two enemies. If the goal and purpose of journalism is to inform for the public good, then surely, this collaboration will move forward journalism.

With all that is going on in the internet, be it Twitter, blogs, or online versions of newspapers, the world seems far closer and more accessible than it has ever been. As the New York Times article, “Washington Taps into a Potent New Force in Diplomacy,” reported in June, Twitter provided a special inside look into the protests that were spreading in Tehran. With Twitter and blogs, the people are the reporters— the participants of the journalistic process.

As a traditionalist who enjoys the feel of newspaper in her hands, it is a shame that the role of newspapers is no longer as important as they once were. But as one individual among the masses who receive information, the notion of greater collaboration and more participation from the people for the public good is extremely appealing. And as an aspiring journalist, the idea of working with multimedia, being a true backpack journalist, and becoming a part of this new wave is truly mouthwatering.

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Journalism Under Reconstruction

Posted on December 6, 2009 by Sabrina Smith

            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.

Posted in Bernstein Spring 2009, The Future of American Journalism, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Journalism: Out with the old [paper] in with the new [web]

Posted on December 6, 2009 by mmicko

Journalis

With the ever changing trend of journalism, it is clear to see where it will be going in a couple of years. Modern technology helps bring journalism to a whole new level. Since the field is so competitive, upcoming journalism students are lucky to score an unpaid internship at a media company such as newspaper or magazine. “It’s reporting by professional journalists, interns, and students appears in Wisconsin newspapers, public radio and television stations and their Web sites,” says the Construction of American Journalism about the Wisconsin State Journal.

Currently, most of journalism student, as well as young adults just out of collegeget their journalism from the web. “The Internet revolution helped to accelerate the decline in print readership and newspapers responded by offering their content for free on their Web site.” Some publications, such as the New York Times, have on-line access to their articles, but not all of them. Online subscriptions are required.

Looking at the future of journalism, there is more online and less paper. As we have seen in the past, magazine and newspaper publications are declining. Small local newspapers are trying to collaborate to work one. Magazines are dying, for example Gourmet magazine from Conde Nast publications is soon to publish its last issue. So whom do we blame for this? No one, modern technology is rising. Why would someone carry a magazine or paper around when they can check it on their computer or smart-phone.

Already young interns blog on websites. Take a look at TeenVogue.com, there is a section dedicated for the intern blog. It is common for interns to do simple work on websites. Upcoming sites only use interns. For the future, only the most popular magazines will stay alive. The classic magazines that have been around for a while, such as Elle and Vogue will make the cut. Magazines such as Lucky or Allure, are not guaranteed to survive. All these publications have websites. Soon, the public will catch on and check the site rather than carry around the magazine.

The same goes for newspapers; the NY Times is a classic. But with its online access, no one knows if they will go paperless. Basically, we make up the future of journalism. Student studying the topic now will be responsible for the publications. As students, we are learning all the modern technology.

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Danzy Cenna: The Real Life

Posted on December 6, 2009 by mmicko

It was interesting to see Danzy Cenna talk about her life and her recent book, Where Did You Sleep Last Night. She started off reading about her life, where she was born- “welfare houses” she described. Danzy Cenna had a view at the “real life” at a young age. As a child, 11 years old, her father took her to movies that weren’t appropriate for a child. Family on her fathers side called her and her sibling, “white children.” Her father who wasn’t a good role model helped shape her life. As a child, she dealt with his strange behavior, such as being indecisive and drunk.

But all this helped Danzy Cenna become a strong person in her later life. After her first child was born, she was once again faced with racis. Many asked if her child was ok, if it was the correct skin color and if that would change in the future. With the strange questions, she didn’t elaborate on the comments. Cenna wanted to protect her baby and keep it hidden from the racism. Unfortunately, racism came back and she and her baby still have to deal with it.

I find Danzy Cenna a strong person because even though her life wasn’t perfect and her family far from it, she still wrote a book about her life and shares it with the world. It takes a person with a lot of pride and courage to write such a book. As she said, she had to deal with her father not approving, as well as different members of the family. But her life made her who she is, and now we see why how she became the person she is.

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The Future of American Journalism

Posted on December 6, 2009 by Mary Iannone

In both of my journalism classes this semester, the majority of the first day was spent discussing how journalism as our professors know it has dramatically changed. I left these classes feeling a little disheartened, but also a little confused. As a college student and an aspiring journalist, I do not see journalism as a dying art. I have no reservations about adapting to the new ways of the media. To me, being successful in journalism should not only mean becoming a top writer at The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal. Being somewhat technologically savvy, I am prepared to work in an unconventional media field, be it online or otherwise.

“The Reconstruction of American Journalism,” published in the November/December 2009 issue of the Colombia Journalism Review, seems to agree with me. Within the first page, the authors state that “Newspapers and television news are not going to vanish in the foreseeable future…they will play diminished roles in an emerging and still rapidly changing world of digital journalism.” I feel as if people in the media field are panicking about the so-called disappearance of their role in society; this is not true. The only way their role can be lessened is if they are unwilling to adapt to the changes that society is going through.

However, the CJR article also argues that television and radio cannot “make up for the loss of reporting by newspapers,” saying that TV news stories tend to be about “accidents, crimes, and scheduled or staged events.” I have to agree with the authors here. In high school, I got the opportunity to sit in on the production of a live newscast at my neighborhood’s #1 station. The pace was fast-paced to the point of chaotic as the broadcast went on; if even one mistake is made, it can throw off the entire show. The stories to cover are laid out beforehand; while they are ranked in order of importance, each story is only allotted a certain amount of time. This often means that only the facts and/or most shocking elements are reported. At a newspaper, although deadlines are followed, the reporter is able to investigate the issue more thoroughly in order to present a clearer sequence of events.

In newspapers, there is also the ability to do feature articles that you may not see on television broadcasts. It is always a feat when a TV news show is able to cover these types of stories with grace; one of my favorite examples is on the NBC Nightly News broadcast, which often closes with a segment entitled “Making a Difference.” Each piece highlights an American who is, naturally, making a difference in the lives of others through charity work or other means. Not only is it a great way to close the show, it gives the broadcast more heart after having to report what is generally upsetting news.

But the CJR article does not only focus on TV, radio, and newspapers. It sheds some light on the burgeoning online movement, as discussed earlier in this post. The web has the ability to turn what would normally be light news into a massively discussed issue, thanks to people who “pass along, link to, or comment on news and other content originally produced by established news organizations.”

I am fully prepared, once I graduate from college, to pursue a job in any journalistic field that interests me – even if it is not the “classical” approach. I do not believe that the “future of American journalism” lies in the internet and other sources – I believe that already is the face of American journalism.

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