“The
new media ecology, with its additional agendas of interactivity, democracy,
multimediality, and with a new domain of bloggers and citizen reporters,
presents a set of issues and opportunities that extend beyond familiar
boundaries” (O’Sullivan & Heinonen, 2008). This has been the message
relayed and is somewhat the basic way of life now. It’s a fast and first world
that we live in and it provides great opportunities for amateur journalists to
get their feet wet while also providing instantaneous news to viewers. The uses
of social media and video have completely revolutionized the way journalist and
news organizations operate. Sites such as YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, and
Facebook allow users to instantly upload text, video, pictures, audio, and also
allows for live video feed so that viewers can instantly see the story or event
taking place. This is ideal in a time where people want information and want it
right away, they are able to go to these sites and gather that information
immediately. “Now, anyone can commit a random act of journalism instantly by
posting information and pictures. As such, professional journalists should
promote their strengths, such as their credibility and reliability, so they can
deliver the instant and accurate news that audiences demand and depend on”
(Kolodzy, 2013). With the benefits of being fast and first also come the
ethical implication of being incorrect, misleading, or unethical altogether
because people often times lose their ethical thinking in order to be first
which is a huge dilemma. “They will have to rely on the benefits of different
media – words, still pictures, audio, video – to provide the best aspects of
the story to the news audience. Journalists will also need to be open and
transparent in terms of limitations. Whether they are reporting via Twitter 10
minutes after arriving at the scene of a car crash or four hours after sitting
in on a town-hall meeting, the tried-and-true aspects of good journalism all
come into play in reporting for a mobile, digital, and interactive news
audience” (Kolodzy, 2013).
This
“fast and first mentality” because of technology has also brought about an
increase in training for communicators and in particular, journalists, to
better equip them. Ethical writing and publishing training must be a vital part
in any news organization. With the rise of self-journalism and people being
able to create just about anything that want and publish it online, the news
organizations must stick to the basic principles of journalism and deliver the
facts in the same way that they were given. Journalists need training in
remaining true and ethical but also people outside of news organizations need
training on digital media literacy so that they will be conscious of the
content that they are reading and look for proper sources to verify if the
information is legitimate or not. They will look for other articles that defend
what they are reading so they can take what they are reading as the truth.
What quicker way to be fast and first then to go live? The Facebook Live function allows any Facebook user to instantly begin recording a video from wherever they are and have it be recorded live on Facebook for everyone to see. This is the revolution to self-journalism and broadcasting because instead of waiting for the 6 'clock segment of Sports Center to watch the New England Patriots home coming parade for winning the Super Bowl, it was recorded live on Facebook, as if the viewer were right there in the action.
Or how about being able to follow your favorite celebrities and get to dive into their awesome lives. Like Harry Connick Jr recording a Facebook Live video of himself on the sidelines of the Super Bowl watching the players warm up.
Reference:
Kolodzy, J. (2013). Practicing
Convergence Journalism: an introduction to cross-media storytelling. New York,
NY: Routledge.
O'Sullivan, J., & Heinonen, A.
(2008). Old Values, New Media. Journalism Practice, 2(3), 357-371.
doi:10.1080/17512780802281081
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