Digital journalism is news produced through digital media, including websites and social media. It has negatively affected traditional print media and can come from authoritative sources or individuals with a slant. Some digital journalism sites are reliable, while others lack credibility. As traditional journalism jobs decline, many are wondering if they can become digital journalists. The proliferation of devices has made it easier for anyone to contribute information, but it remains to be seen if there will be too many online news sources and not enough profit to go around.
Digital journalism refers to news and its accompaniments produced through digital media. It is increasingly incorporated into mainstream print and broadcast journalism. Many newspapers also publish an Internet equivalent each day, and many television news stations have interactive sites that might offer podcasts, headlines or full stories, and a variety of other features. As news addiction has increasingly focused on obtaining news from the Internet, this remains a growing form of journalism that has negatively affected other forms of media, especially standard print media.
Digital journalism can come from recognized and authoritative news sources, but individuals or small groups who may have a definite slant also produce it. Examples of the latter include sites like The Huffington Post and Politico, and many websites don’t have the gloves on in terms of what can or will be printed. Since anyone with an internet connection can find a way to write or publish a news story, the idea of leaving out information or hoping to hide any information is essentially gone. What anyone says, does or expresses can easily be shown on a YouTube® video and written on a website, or even on a Tweet, and in a sense digital journalism can be said to have launched the careers of millions of amateur journalists working for free.
Some digital journalism news sites that may be traditional in nature pay their employees to write for them and are often considered more reliable sources of news. Others unfortunately are not attentive to facts and the value of truth (an opinion is only as good as researched material), and this usually leads to sites that possess a certain amount of credibility or lack it. Of course there are credible sites and can be linked to real newspapers or separate from them. However, the average person reading a site may not necessarily make that distinction, which can lead to a constant proliferation of misinformation and conjecture.
With many traditional journalism jobs drying up due to newspaper staffing cuts or the closure of some print publications, something predicted in the 1990s when digital journalism first gained attention, many are wondering if they can get jobs as digital journalists. Those with impressive communications and writing or journalism credentials could easily adapt to working on more credible websites and others start their own news blogs using ad revenue as earnings or freelance for a number of different news sources. This can be profitable or not very profitable. Many times, even on respected sites, contributions are not paid and some websites have citizen journalism positions. Public news commentary can also be incorporated into televised news broadcasts; in the late 2000s CNN® began filling some of its broadcasts with public commentary made on its website.
With the proliferation of a variety of devices, creating or getting news has never been easier, especially in free press countries. A cell phone or smartphone could be used to record video of events, to write a quick blog about a news issue, or to exchange emails with sources for stories. This means that virtually anyone can contribute information/misinformation about what is happening in the world, and many people enjoy this practice, even if it does not earn any profit.
It’s hard to know if digital journalism has a saturation point, or if there will exist a time when there are too many online news sources and not enough profit to go around. This could be significant not only for journalists, but also for photographers, editors and many others. Certainly, the reduction in staff and production of many newspapers has already had an effect on the work of printers, lithographers and newspaper deliverers. This is seen as an unfortunate side effect of the development of the internet, but also seen by many as an unavoidable who does not know otherwise. Furthermore, the profit can only go to qualified professionals and is not a problem for citizen journalists, which could further reduce the ability to obtain journalism jobs in the future.
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