Does Journalism have a future on the Internet?

The Internet as we know has the capability of reaching to a wide audience all around the world. It is a valuable tool and lives up to the quote "Knowledge is power" due to the vast availability of knowledge and information present on the Internet. However, when the question arises if the internet is useful in the field of journalism, most of us would presume the answer to be YES which is not entirely true; the internet does have its disadvantages in the field of journalism.

To begin with its advantages. The Internet in the field of journalism further enhances the concept of global village allowing benefits for various factors such as : 

• Cost reduction-Readers can save money by reading news online, instead of subscribing for newspapers
• Easy and Convenient accessibility- consumers can get news from any source possible, expanding and increasing knowledge 
• Introduction to new tools- Skype interviews, online databases. More convenient for reporters 
• Maintains balance of power- This is maintained between users and journalists, where users are free to view whatever content possible and journalists are able to put up any content possible, supported by evidence. Neither one of the two- users and journalist function as a gatekeeper.                                   

In contrast to this , in a 2012 poll that  had been conducted by The Atlantic and National Journal,  43 media insiders (Media insiders include people who work as editors, reporters and publishers) were asked if journalism has been helped more or hurt more by the rise of news consumption online. 65% said journalism had been hurt more, while 34 percent said it had helped more.

As seen in my previous blog post about President Obama’s use of the Internet to connect and reach out to his audiences. Mr. Obama had recorded his speeches and had used the Internet; specifically YouTube to post his speeches .This is an example of journalism on the Internet. The media insiders were also asked about the coverage of President Obama. Out of 45 respondents, 71 percent said it was “about right”, 22 percent said it’s been “too easy” and 7 percent said it’s been “too tough”. This shows how the media insiders considered President Obama's use of Internet for journalism too "overexposed". As the majority had said, the use of the Internet was " about right" , it was how they had expected it to be- superficial. 

The following video above further accentuates on how the Internet was best described as " overexposed" and " superficial " in the field of journalism. 

The increase in audience reach using the Internet  is indeed gratifying but the use of internet to promote journalism has distorted the need of meeting up to the challenges of  independent reporting and newsgathering which are aspects of traditional journalism. The rise in the internet has reduced the traditional media industry causing a downfall in the business and economic model of print based journalism. It has also questioned the online content of information which does not share the same par or substantial worth as the content provided by print based media like newspapers.The rise in the Internet has also effected the journalism profession in a negative way, there is a great number in the loss of journalism jobs and a decline in revenue 

 The answer to the title of the blog post would be: Both-   It has a terrifying and a bright future. 

References: 

1) http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/04/media-insiders-say-internet-hurts-journalism/7410/

2)http://gigaom.com/2011/07/21/is-the-internet-making-journalism-better-or-worse-yes/