Around 40% of our world’s population has access to an internet connection. To put this into a larger perspective and to see the exponential increase, in 1999 only 1% of the world’s population had access. This escalation of technology and connectivity has had a large impact on journalism. This blog post will investigate the different ranges of new technologies and also their pros and cons on journalism.
Over the last ten years there has been a large increase in the range of available sources and tools to not only receive but also articulate news. In the 20th century people would receive news at not only specific times of the day but also mainly from television, audio and newspapers. However, the rise in technology has drastically changed this. People of the 21st century are receiving news 24/7, whether they desire to or not. With the introduction of 3g and 4g in the 21st century, people are always connected. An individual may be in the middle of nowhere on a trip but still be connected to the whole world. Large news companies such as BBC news, CNN, have mobile applications which allow you to receive notifications. People check their phones more frequently than they use to, people can be always up to date if they would like. On top of being able to have access at any time of the day and from many different available sources, we are now available to access news from all around the world. When it comes to news the continents of the world are more connected than ever, disregarding obvious omissions such as North Korea.
With the introduction and exponential increase in technology there has been a shift in power in journalism. The power has shifted from reporters to audience. Firstly, due to the large range of different ways to tell news (applications, internet, newspapers, radio, tv) audiences have the power to choose how and where they would like to receive their news. The industry has become increasingly competitive. Individuals are now able to publish on comments, forums, publish photos, videos which the world has access to. In recent years we have seen an introduction of a “live feature” which certain companies have taken on with strong importance, such as Facebook, Snapchat, and BBC. The live feature is interesting to an audience as it in real time, an individual is able to be present in a moment across the world simply from their phone, it feels so real.
This graph looks at the pros and cons of technology on journalism. Although the pros seem to outweigh the cons with availability and transparency of news having a large significance, the cons have an importance and must be considered by those who communicate news and those who receive news. The increase in connectivity in the world has allowed small rural areas to have access to news and in general more people to be informed. With the increase in globalisation in today’s world, being informed about what is going on in the world is very important as well as being culturally sensitive. For instant a company making trades with others must be informed about what is going on in these countries and it will impact their business.
With the increase of everyone being able to be a reporter, it is simply impossible to verify everything that is published, therefore we must be wary of what we read. Unverified news can harm communities and people. An example of this is when the stock prices of Apple decreased by 5.4% when a false report that Steve Job suffered a cardiac attack. Not only this but as now anyone can become a journalist in a sense, it has increased the competitiveness of the industry. Individuals may publish their perspectives of the news, however this could be dangerous as it may not be an accurate representation of the issue. People are also taking more risks to get news coverage as the industry is so intense. Veracity is essential in the publication of news, as people are very gullible when they read news, for some reason many of us instinctively trust what we read and see on news posts. However, accuracy is more important than speed. Although in some cases, speed of delivery is important, such as the news of an attack getting to people nearby, however in most of the time accuracy is indispensable. Therefore, although technology has greatly benefited the world when it comes to journalism, individual readers must be cautious and simply aware of technologies’ effect on today’s journalism to benefit from what we now have access to.
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