It is well-known that new-age journalists are picking up new skills that deal with the digital transition of the news. A journalist is not only expected to report, write and edit, but they need to be able to choose more additional features (interactive) to add to their story.
Video, audio slideshow, photographs, maps, polls …… What to choose? What to choose? This is a journalist’s everyday question.
Now journalism has always been known as being a hectic field – with late night hours, making more than 10 phone calls a day trying to retrieve quotes, attending meetings and such. Well, this new digital transformation isn’t making the field any less hectic. In fact, it stresses me out a little bit just to know this could be my future.
Journalists are expected to learn how to use layout programs, photo editing programs, slideshow programs, video programs. The list goes on and on. These skills aren’t something you usually just pick up either- for most people, they take some time to adapt and learn.
But there aren’t only negative aspects of the digital transformation of news. Its accessibility to an unlimited amount of people actually works out to a journalist’s advantage. In fact, it saves the journalist time opposed to the demand of learning tons of new skills. What I’m talking about here is crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing allows journalists to come up with new ideas and overall allows the public to form news that it wants to read and see in a newspaper.
Crowdsourcing can range from comments written in response to an article or an entire Web site dedicated to people’s experiences or opinions on a certain topic. Journalists are able to set these things up and refer to them later to pick the best quotes possible – and then transform it in an article with a topic that the public was interested about initially.
In essence, after being enrolled in an online journalism for the past three months, I have realized that I do enjoy learning these new skills and programs. Yes, they do take time and can add a bit of stress to one’s life, but in the end, learning these skills is worth it and can make your great article seem fantastic. Interactivity is key – readers enjoy it and what’s better than appeasing your readers?
I can see myself working for an online health publication in the future - I look forward to building Web sites and learning all sorts of new programs/techniques. As computer-savvy as I am, I know that I will enjoy the digital transformation of our news today.
You raise an interesting question. It sometimes seems that the technology distracts from the reporting and can bog it down. It’s never a good sign when the widget exceeds the message.
I agree with you. I’m really enjoying learning all of these new tools but am aware that there are some downsides to them (right now). Hopefully in the near future, journalists will have sorted out how to handle all of this technology better and will have an easier time working with it.
Congrats on completing the course Amanda, and good luck in everything that comes after it.
All the best,
-Derek
Thanks a lot Derek! Thanks for all your help as well.