This presentation was used at the Spokane Intercollegiate Research Conference on April 25, 2009. It came out of a paper by the same name that was done for an independent study this fall.
3. Overview
What will be covered in today’s presentation?
State of the media
Defining journalism and journalists
Emergence of the Web
The role of a journalist today
The skills journalists need
Reflections in the industry
The future of journalists
4. State of the media
What does the media landscape look like today?
Layoffs at U.S. newspapers:
2008: 15,859 layoffs and buyouts
As of April 15,2009: 8,097
Closures and bankruptcies:
Seattle PI, Rocky Mountain News
More than 50 newspapers closed so far
Job openings: On JournalismJobs.com
Aug. 2007: 628 postings in newspaper/wires
April 15, 2009: 144 postings in newspaper/wires
5. State of the media
What does the media landscape look like today?
Attitude:
30 percent of reporters and editors think it is not
likely they will lose their jobs in the next three years
Reasons:
Loss of revenue and readership:
Classified ads and subscriptions down
Newspapers bought at inflated prices
Content available online for free
Current economic situation
6. Survival
How will newspapers overcome these challenges?
“Newspapers cannot be defined by the
second word - paper. They’ve got to be
defined by the first - news. If we’re going
to define ourselves by our history, then
we deserve to go out of business”
-Arthur Sulzberger,
publisher of the New York Times
7. Journalism defined
What is journalism?
Definitions
“Written material of current interest or wide
popular appeal” (American Heritage Dictionary)
“An invention or a form of expression used to
report and comment in the public media on the
events and idea of the here and now” (G. Stuart
Adam)
Roles of a journalist
To gather the facts and tell the story
8. News goes online
How did we get to where we are today?
“ I think most of the machinery now
employed in printing the day’s, the
week’s, or the month’s doings
will be junked by the end of this century
and will be as archaic as the bell ringer’s
bell, or the herald’s trumpet. New
methods of communication I think will
supersede the old.”
-William Allen White, 1931
9. News goes online
How did we get to where we are today?
Internet and the press
1991: Web is made available for commercial
use
1994: 20 newspapers in the world had Web
sites
1999: 5,000 newspapers had sites
2000: International Online Journalism Awards
created
Today: Few newspaper are without a site
10. News goes online
How did we get to where we are today?
Internet and the audience:
1992: Two million computers were connected to
the Internet
Today:
75 percent of all Americans adults of a total
population of more than 230 million use the
Internet
70 percent of those who use it do so daily
39 percent of these active Internet users
seek news online daily
11. News goes online
How did we get to where we are today?
Internet provides
Capacity
Flexibility
Immediacy
Permanence
Interactivity
Democratization of publishing
What does that mean for newspapers?
12. The journalist today
Who is a journalist?
News as a conversation
“Everyone can be a journalist”
The citizen journalist/blogger
37 percent of all Americans who go online
engage with user-generated content
Challenges
Legal definitions of journalists
Press passes
Do professional journalists still have value?
-Yes, but their role has to change.
13. Skill sets (Broad)
What skills does a journalist need?
Thinking online Understanding of the
Storytelling across changing media
mediums landscape and media
Writing across consumption
Ability to
platforms, including Web
writing manage, moderate and
Copy editing participate in
Researching and guiding interactivity
Curiosity and healthy Data management
Enterprise
skepticism
Strong technical skills Energy and passion
14. Skill sets (Technical)
What skills does a journalist need?
Create multimedia Social networking
Video and video editing Social booking and
Audio media sharing
Photography and photo Soundslides
RSS
editing
HTML Podcasting
Use of content Flash
Twitter
management systems
Photoshop Remote transmission
Blogs
15. Current state
Has it really changed that much?
Journalists’ responses
2/3 of professional journalists think splitting
time across platforms is positive
45 percent of local journalists say the Internet
will weaken rather than strengthen those values
25 percent of journalists spent no time working
on their organization’s Web product
National journalists are 3x as likely as local to
devote half or more of their time to multimedia
16. Current state
Has it really changed that much?
Washington journalists say
“Community paper” focus still makes it mostly
about the print product
Concerns about immediacy, decreased accuracy
and loss of depth
Only a few respondents were more positive and
saw needs for embracing new technology while
balancing other aspects of the job
17. The future of the journalist
Is the challenge really possible?
Jack-of-all trades
Helpful or hurtful
Compensation
Is it even possible?
“We can’t do it all, but I think – I hope – we can do
something because, to be frank, we have to.”
- Alison Glow
18. More information
What now?
Getting the News Online:
Today’s journalist and the Web
www.todaysjournalist.wordpress.com
Jasmine Linabary
jlinabary09@gmail.com
Also follow me or find me on Twitter, Facebook,
LinkedIn, del.icio.us, Wired Journalists
