Wednesday, September 14, 2016

How The Internet is changing the face of journalism


The internet can be described as the fastest way to disseminate information now. With the advent of internet, a lot of things have changed. Gone were the days, when one has to wait for a longer time to get information or send information. I can sit in my house, or anywhere, get a story and lease it to my media house. For example, with social Medias like twitter, Facebook, and blogging, I can do a story and let other people know. In other words, internet has made the compression of time and space very possible.
Another factor is also that new organizations don't own the news anymore. There is a transformation for the journalist from being the gatekeeper of information to sharing it in a public space. Therefore citizen journalism is something that the internet has brought. For example, here in Ghana, TV3 has given the public a chance to make their own news. So I can make or write the news in my locale and send it to them via the internet.
The only thing I can say is that when it comes to objectivity, then the internet raises a lot of questions. Objectivity has always been an idea important for the news. It is designed to deliver journalism that people can trust. But in the new media age transparency is what delivers trust. News today still has to be accurate and fair, but it is as important for the readers, listeners and viewers to see how the news is produced, where the information comes from, and how it works. The emergence of news is as important, as the delivering of the news itself.
Journalism now has been given a new branding. The Internet makes organizing groups trivially simple. A mass e-mail, a facebook group, or an online petition can be created in seconds and at essentially no cost. Collaboration on any significant scale used to require the power of institutions and organizations. Now they require only a good idea and the right tools.
With the Internet, retailers don’t need newspapers to connect with their customers; they can set up their own Web sites and mailing lists. I can start a blog and post leaked documents to my hearts’ content.
Deciding what combination of news was the most important for the public to know. Traditionally, that’s been a job for newspaper editors, the ones who decide what makes Page One and what gets cut for space. But space isn’t a limited resource anymore; there’s no shortage of electrons. Instead of trusting the local paper’s brain trust to judge what’s important, any Internet user can get their news through the filter of their choice—a favorite blogger, the machine-generated Google News, or the Most E-Mailed list on some news site. Or they can find news about the near-infinite number of subjects.
Blogging sites also represent a step forward in Journalism. As mentioned earlier on, one can find any information on a blog or post information on blogs depending on varied topics. Gone were the days one need to look through a lot of books or journals on a host of topics. Blogging helps now with a lot of findings because people post their opinions for other people who will be interested to follow.

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