To be honest, I did not seek this article out, I more stumbled upon it but I found myself presented with Andrew Keen's blog "The Great Seduction". It hurt my soul a little bit, especially when i read the post about his debate at the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day Debate and the side he took when debating the question "Has new media killed journalism?".
In Keen's article in The Guardian Unlimited he outlines the main points he made in the debate, one being that
"Instead of journalism by experts, we now prefer self-expression and the democratised interactivity of blogs and wikis"
Perhaps this is true, but it is fair to say that New media is the culprit behind the death of journalism (if it's even fair to say it is dying).
While the general public, especially the people who utilise the hybrid of online content, do enjoy self expression such as blogs and wiki's it is entirely unfounded to say that this is the death of journalism. In fact, if looked at through a less pessimistic lens it could be said that New Media is helping feed the world of journalism. Keen states "When printing presses were scarce resources, a few select reporters - usually the smartest and the bravest - were paid to follow public events and then hand down their knowledge to a mass audience", however instead of filling the reader (ie me!) with a feeling of nostalgia and regret for times past it makes me think of one word "propaganda". One or two people? That gives the public one (maybe two) opinions.
As discussed in the podcast this week Web 2.0 (the culprit in Andrew Keen's eyes) dismisses the need for gatekeeping the news. Instead it replaces it with 'gatewatching'. Rather than keeping the content enclosed and hierachical it is open to input in the form of comments and continuation of a subject.
The term "murder" also implies that new media has gotten rid of journalism. Then what are the newspapers online counterparts, such as where Andrew Keen has written this article The Guardian Limited or something like The Age's website? Or what about the journalist's who uses citizen journalism to report on things that don't have room to report, or don't want to?
Sites such as Indymedia, and Slashdot as referred to in the lecture provide insight into something that may not be found in a tangible newspaper. No one would want to go and buy a physical newspaper that has the amount of content that you could find on an online citizen journalism counterpart. To say that the information on Blog's and wiki's isn't news worthy is slanderous and as someone who write's about this ON HIS BLOG it is also hypocritical to say that new media has killed journalism.
The last week of KCb201 has been discussing Citizen Journalism. Without new media there would be no forum for Citizen Journalism and therefore there would be no expansion of the mainstream, no one challenging opinions. Without New Media such as the internet "real" journalists as Keen terms may not even have a forum to report on. Keen points out that in America tangible newspaper sales have declined, but that hardly means that journalism is on the brink of extinction. New Media has enabled a forum for more people's voices to be heard, with more journalism reaching people's ears. Of course there is some junk to sift through but there is in "old" media also, although perhaps Keen doesn't mind perusing the personals.
In this game of cluedo, I think you will find that it wasn't New Media, in the conservatorium with the candlestick.
No comments:
Post a Comment