A New Era of Journalism

Stepping into an entirely new era of journalism is terrifying as an aspiring journalist.

This is the era in which the digital media landscape has not only changed the methods of delivery for journalism but the way journalistic reporting is viewed.

Journalism is still expected to be accurate, credible and ethical; however, in this new era of journalism, facts and stories are now up for debate. For many, which social media platform they are using is now what counts as a form of credibility.

Over the years, journalism has needed to adapt to this new landscape. At one point in time, journalistic reporting revolved around going out in search of a breaking news story. Now, media companies are expected to make stories from content communities are sharing across their social media feeds. At the same time, so-called "citizen journalists" are emerging now more than ever, which is also having a negative effect on news consumers because journalistic standards and practices are no longer being followed.

What is so crucial is the fact that a citizen journalist implies that anyone with a phone can become a journalist, so long as they have a platform. However, the difference is, an ordinary person will not go out of their way to investigate the information, apply the rigor of newsgathering practices, and rigorously fact check what they are sending out to the public, whereas a journalist would. It will take ethical and credible journalists to pick up the pieces from these citizen journalists and create a more factual account.

The discussion of whether or not something is factual has also become problematic due to these online social media platforms that are allowing just about anything to be said. In this digital Wild West, journalists must learn to adapt.

This digital era in journalism is also expected to provide 24/7 breaking news updates, which brings the constant anticipation and need to be first in the publication world. However, this expedience only makes it more challenging for journalists to be accurate.

"The rush to be first is much more important than being accurate," said Joel Beers, advisor for The Bulletin, the California State University, Dominguez Hills student newspaper.

Fake news is also drowning out accurate and ethically reported information, which is becoming both a distraction and even more difficult for journalists to cut through the noise with the actual facts.

Truly, even the meaning of the word "newspaper" has taken an entirely different form, as news outlets must now supply a constant flow of digital content.

This also means the exposure of readers to a variety of other stories in the publication is also being diffused as they can now pick and choose what to read by setting their news feeds to their interests.

"Nowadays, we are curators of our own content where we can pick and choose," Beers said. "You are going to be exposed to stories that you never would have been exposed to otherwise and that is what a newspaper did."

According to Beers, the thought of aspiring journalists not getting enough broad-based experience with different kinds of news is also worrisome, as they increasingly become more niche news providers.

"I'm finding that a lot of students are just not that well rounded with things unless they care about them," Beers said. "Which it's great to care about something but they just don't know of what else is going on out there."

Journalism is an entirely different industry than what it was in the 1970s and there's a lot more expected of upcoming journalists than what journalism used to be. Simply knowing how to write and report is not meeting all of the expectations in today's journalism field, which now requires skills in photography, podcasting, blogging and video broadcasting.

Journalists are no longer only publishing through a printed newspaper, so they must also be versed in creative software, such as Adobe Photoshop, to get a digital version to the media. Podcasting has recently had a major impact in not only the industry, but in entertainment overall. For many, podcasts have become a primary source of information, where they get their news on the go, so journalists have to think about how to adapt some of their stories to these new formats.

Journalists must also interact with their audience 24/7 through social media and know how to leverage their social media platforms. In all these ways, journalists are having to adapt with these constant changes in order to stay relevant.

"You need to be realistic about the journalistic future and not fatalistic," Beers said.

CSUDH is encouraging this new generation of journalists by providing courses to help their students become well rounded within the industry, including Digital Toolkit, Digital Media Production, Digital Journalism, Digital Magazine Production, Broadcast Journalism, Multimedia Interviewing, Photojournalism, and even the Senior Project course.

Combined, the Communications Department is preparing Journalism majors with experience in writing, video production, podcasts, blogging, broadcasting, editing programs, digital portfolios, as well as social media platforms, so they are familiarized with the tools of this digital era before they graduate.

All of this is essential because journalism has never been as threatened or as important as right now, which puts more pressure than ever on Journalism majors to be prepared for their careers in a transforming field.