What I know/assumeWhen I previously pictured the media industry I imagined older people, stiffly discussing the day’s political news, world news, and local news, just the facts. I knew that the internet must have opened up a new world for the media in the past 10 years, and these people that I had imagined would be forced to catch up or be left behind. I was surprised to see in my mentorship at WDUN, not only the varying ages of reporters, but varying reporting methods and styles of stories that they cover. After seeing this in my first few days “on the job,” I realized that the industry must have already evolved due to the internet age, and is fighting to keep up. My initial perspective of the industry was completely wrong and there must be a reason why. I knew the internet and social media were major players and that the general transfer and accessibility of information had become a much easier process than it was even 20 years ago. I was interested to find out more.
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The Hunt for Information
My research was greatly benefitted from first hand experiences at my mentorship. My primary job at WDUN is to run the Show Clips page, a section of the website where the best parts of the radio show are highlighted and made available for people to re-listen to, or share with friends if they missed the original broadcast. I was able to use different recording tools, editing software, and web builders to upload and create short informational pieces on the Show Clips. The original radio broadcast was uploaded, and put on a website for all to hear, where I would see my work shared on the station’s Facebook and Twitter pages, with Likes, Retweets and comment replies. Observing my mentor use these different tools in his own reporting showed me just how much technology and modern innovation must be used in the news, even on the small and local levels. In using these tools I saw the convenience and availability of journalism and media tools for anyone to use.
I continued my research by reading articles by established journalists from publications such as, Inc.com and Time.com, who elaborate on the specific effects of the media. Brian Rosenwald, a writer for Time, uses the controversial radio figure, Rush Limbaugh, as evidence of the internet as a beneficiary for talk radio and the media. “Several times over the years, exposure to broader audiences changed the paradigm for talk-radio hosts.” (Rosenwald). With talk radio merging with the internet, Rush was able to broaden his audience, and have more controversial shows because through the internet, a “radio show” does not need to have advertisers or radio station guidelines. Due to the internet and new technologies, like smart phones and internet radio, content is available anyone and everyone, and it is more likely to find its own specific audience, regardless of geographic or demographic targets. When I asked my mentor, Russell Brown, about this, he said that talk radio is “thriving. Radio in its traditional form of listening over the AM or FM frequencies will always be popular if people still must drive their cars. And with the capabilities to stream over an app or website, a station’s reach is limitless.” This provides people with the content and information that they want to hear, but also allows them to ignore the information they don’t want to hear. The internet has created a new kind of media and journalistic community that can be ignorant and uninformed, while trying to be informed on what they care about. With two sides to every story it is easy to ignore one of the sides. The internet has given people even more room to say and hear what they want, but also limit themselves as well.
Due to the nature of the internet and social media the news flow is FAST. I wanted to see how news agencies and journalists are keeping up. At my own mentorship we had begun to incorporate new technologies and media platforms like Facebook Live, Twitter, and Soundcloud, to broaden our audience and provide more content outside of the radio and the WDUN website. John Boitnott, a former california news radio host, and TV news reporter for over 20 years, wrote an article where he met with younger journalists to see how they were keeping up with the internet. He found most of them were using Twitter to interact with listeners, build relations, and create fans. They are now able to create a community with listeners, while also sharing the news quickly and easily, as they happen. Boitnott summed up his findings by saying, “... news is not relevant to an audience at 6 p.m. when it happens at 2 p.m. They want their Twitter and Facebook feeds fed. And why shouldn’t they?” People have a constant need for information, and the internet has given us that. However, with the easy access to information, people are quick to jump on board. With social media anyone can be a photographer, reporter, journalist, or podcast talk-show host, for free and without training. This has its pros and cons. This allows for news to break, instantly, without it first coming from a news studio. News and information from people can spread at the touch of a finger, but with such accessibility, what is the reliability? Facebook is now the third most trusted news source behind Fox and CNN. It is so easy to get on Facebook and spread fake stories. We live in a time of fake news and incorrect information, no matter which political side, country, or news source you are a part of.
The spread of false information and the idea that anyone can be a journalist has rubbed some people in the news industry the wrong way. Peter Beaumont, the foreign affairs editor for The Guardian, is one of those who wants to return to the old fashion ways of journalism. He came to this realization after having to report during the Great Egyptian Blackout in 2014. He says, "We went back to what we used to do: write up the story on the computer, go to the business centre, print it out and dictate it over the phone, we didn't have to worry about what was on the internet; we just had to worry about what we were seeing. It was absolutely liberating." He argues that due to the struggle of getting the information out, less and less people were flooding the media with stories that had already been covered, were false, or were unimportant to the situation. Only the best stories made their way to the top.
I continued my research by reading articles by established journalists from publications such as, Inc.com and Time.com, who elaborate on the specific effects of the media. Brian Rosenwald, a writer for Time, uses the controversial radio figure, Rush Limbaugh, as evidence of the internet as a beneficiary for talk radio and the media. “Several times over the years, exposure to broader audiences changed the paradigm for talk-radio hosts.” (Rosenwald). With talk radio merging with the internet, Rush was able to broaden his audience, and have more controversial shows because through the internet, a “radio show” does not need to have advertisers or radio station guidelines. Due to the internet and new technologies, like smart phones and internet radio, content is available anyone and everyone, and it is more likely to find its own specific audience, regardless of geographic or demographic targets. When I asked my mentor, Russell Brown, about this, he said that talk radio is “thriving. Radio in its traditional form of listening over the AM or FM frequencies will always be popular if people still must drive their cars. And with the capabilities to stream over an app or website, a station’s reach is limitless.” This provides people with the content and information that they want to hear, but also allows them to ignore the information they don’t want to hear. The internet has created a new kind of media and journalistic community that can be ignorant and uninformed, while trying to be informed on what they care about. With two sides to every story it is easy to ignore one of the sides. The internet has given people even more room to say and hear what they want, but also limit themselves as well.
Due to the nature of the internet and social media the news flow is FAST. I wanted to see how news agencies and journalists are keeping up. At my own mentorship we had begun to incorporate new technologies and media platforms like Facebook Live, Twitter, and Soundcloud, to broaden our audience and provide more content outside of the radio and the WDUN website. John Boitnott, a former california news radio host, and TV news reporter for over 20 years, wrote an article where he met with younger journalists to see how they were keeping up with the internet. He found most of them were using Twitter to interact with listeners, build relations, and create fans. They are now able to create a community with listeners, while also sharing the news quickly and easily, as they happen. Boitnott summed up his findings by saying, “... news is not relevant to an audience at 6 p.m. when it happens at 2 p.m. They want their Twitter and Facebook feeds fed. And why shouldn’t they?” People have a constant need for information, and the internet has given us that. However, with the easy access to information, people are quick to jump on board. With social media anyone can be a photographer, reporter, journalist, or podcast talk-show host, for free and without training. This has its pros and cons. This allows for news to break, instantly, without it first coming from a news studio. News and information from people can spread at the touch of a finger, but with such accessibility, what is the reliability? Facebook is now the third most trusted news source behind Fox and CNN. It is so easy to get on Facebook and spread fake stories. We live in a time of fake news and incorrect information, no matter which political side, country, or news source you are a part of.
The spread of false information and the idea that anyone can be a journalist has rubbed some people in the news industry the wrong way. Peter Beaumont, the foreign affairs editor for The Guardian, is one of those who wants to return to the old fashion ways of journalism. He came to this realization after having to report during the Great Egyptian Blackout in 2014. He says, "We went back to what we used to do: write up the story on the computer, go to the business centre, print it out and dictate it over the phone, we didn't have to worry about what was on the internet; we just had to worry about what we were seeing. It was absolutely liberating." He argues that due to the struggle of getting the information out, less and less people were flooding the media with stories that had already been covered, were false, or were unimportant to the situation. Only the best stories made their way to the top.