Who will own the news? Journalists, the new dinosaurs?

In today’s world the use of internet’s communication instruments such as msn, e-mail, and blogs are already established as conventional ways of sharing information. This is interesting when it comes to analyse how these new tools have open new doors for the exercise of new and traditional careers.

 

Let’s take the exercise of journalism as an example. Traditionally, the journalist’s role has been linked to the virtual concept of “objectivity”. This is, the storyteller has a sort of divine gift to see the reality and share it with the community without exerting any kind of personal editorial over the message. I know, I know, I can see that little ironic smile rising from your lips and I agree with you. That did not, does not and will not happen because it is impossible to be objective. We can only do our best to be less subjective than we would be in a daily situation.

 

This reality is undergoing profound changes with the use of blogs as a new way of sharing information. Thus, today we can see that there are many websites related to this profession which are trying to accede to the whole spectrum of audiences in order to provide new social services. Accordingly, the use of blogs is permitting to ordinary people give their own opinions in a way that our old colleges would not imagine.

 

For instance, today if somebody did not like the way a story was presented they can replay via posts to let the community know that there is another point of view regarding that particular issue. In addition, the experts in some complex topics can give their interesting and accurate points of view and the journalist can act as a moderator of the debate breaking the rigid structures of the classic way of presenting the news to the public.

 

Additionally, nowadays the journalist can see how the use of blogs can make their life easier when it comes to ask for some particular information related to a topic which is being covered. This also helps to break the ice between the professional and the community through generating a strong link between them. This is important for the exercise of this profession because it means “trust” and “commitment” two concepts which are generally being negatively judged by the public opinion.

 

I could keep mentioning other examples but the point is already made. This medium is changing the way that we interact with the news. However, it is fair enough to wonder about the possible negative effects of this trend. For example, if in the future the news would be made by not a single journalist but a diverse group of persons, who will take responsibility for the contents broadcasted to the society? Does this tendency mean that the role of journalists will be no longer necessary? 

The questions and the easy answers are many, however it is important to see that this medium is still growing and is not yet as massive as it has to be for generating a really serious scenario. Also, there is still some degree of informality on it, and that decreases in some way the credibility associated to their contents, especially if it comes to a sphere as serious as news are.

 

So, what do you think? Are we the journalists getting extinct? 

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