My alma mater, Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, recently mailed an alumni newsletter, Newhouse Network, focusing on the future of journalism. The article was a forum of professors and professionals waxing poetically about the demise of journalism and what’s next for the industry. This topic is near and dear to my heart because I’m a magazine journalism major, class of ’99, and love all forms of media.
I’m also a fan of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Last night’s episode included a segment about the demise of newspapers. “Reporter” Jason Jones interviewed New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller and Assistant Managing Editor Rick Berke. Jones asked Berke why “aged news” was better than “real news?” Jones followed with, “newspapers are aged, name one thing that happened today?” Berke could only name a few items that didn’t happen yesterday.
Here’s the dilemma, print newspapers have become one of the many sources of news. This is a huge shift in power and money. Newspapers used to be “the source” of news. Everyone used to read a newspaper to be in the know and for more in-depth analysis of world events. Today, newspapers print “old news.”
We’re in the midst of an evolution; some would even say a revolution. The power and money once held by newspapers is being dispersed throughout the Internet and 24 hour cable news channels. Two examples of the traditional media disruptors are Craigslist’s classified business and Google’s advertising.
It’s too late to focus on the problems of traditional media. I consider traditional media to be newspapers, magazines and local/national TV news. The only way for “traditional media” to survive and thrive in this new age of citizen journalism, is to look at the possibilities.
Anyone with a blog, twitter account or even Facebook account should consider themselves citizen journalists. This idea can be pretty scary for a university that offers traditional newspaper, magazine and broadcast degrees.
Currently, the fastest growing news sources are hyper local blogs. An example of a hyper local blog is the Restonian. The Restonian is a blog that only follows and reports on news and happenings in Reston. It’s become a more legitimate news source recently when the head of a local civic association complained that blog was in fact not a traditional news source. I believe acknowledging the blog, actually legitimized it.
“Traditional media” needs to look to the future. A possible future when printed newspapers are no longer delivered to subscribers’ homes, local citizen journalists will have more clout and advertising revenue, news aggregation will be as important as publishing original content, newspapers are no longer for-profit and when the skills being taught at journalism schools become interdisciplinary.
I believe converting newspapers and other news sources from for-profit to not-for-profit as a viable and a good idea. The biggest problem with newspapers today is that they are not making enough profit, and their parent companies are not able to provide the needed shareholder returns. Going not-for-profit, or even employee owned, would allow newspapers and other news sources to focus on producing and delivering great content. It’s a win for journalism, a win for journalists and a win for their audiences.
Another evolution could be the creation of a new Media degree by combining newspaper, magazine and broadcast degrees. This new program would equip students to have the multifaceted skills needed in today’s evolving media environment. I believe specializations are a career limiting endeavor. Possessing general print and broadcast skills with a solid journalism background would be much more marketable, and to me, more fun.
It’s pretty late in the game for traditional media to change and correct their course. Every day now provides an opportunity to look to the future and envision how traditional media can stay relevant and evolve. If they don’t, they’ll become what Jason Jones coins as, “A walking Colonial Williamsburg.”