The Face of Journalism

The Face of Journalism

Digital journalism is also known as online journalism. 

It is a contemporary form of journalism where content is distributed through digital technologies as opposed to publishing via print or broadcast. It is a process and has been in use for the past years by newspapers industries, journalist report facts produced and distributed through the internet. It is being noticed as that people no longer buy the printed newspapers except they want to keep it for reference purpose.

However, the primary product of journalism which is news and features on current affairs is presented solely or in combination as text, audio, video and some interactive forms, and disseminated through digital media platforms. Even fully we cannot say that digital technology is destroying the traditional media. Audience and users look the online journalism is a readily available and less costly network. Otherwise for the easiness and safeguard people are seeking print media only.

In this developing world, everyone has a smart phone in their hand, they may be being children, youngsters, or elders, but they are having a higher technological item to contact, to entertain, around the world. In this growing world, the word media introduced to entertain, inform, and educate the people. In this way, in the last century media raised among people. In the start print media was developed and spreaded its services among people. Then after the growth of Sri Lankan economy many satellite TV channels were introduced. People spent their life time with enough satisfaction on print and electronic media. That time the word social media or digital media came to people mind. It is a computer mediated technology that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, career interests and virtual communities.

After that there has been a greater shift from traditional news platforms to online and mobile new sources in the last couple of years. Every traditional media is having a computer based updates and online media for their easy work. And because of online, digital, social media the unregistered and informal media too becoming as a medium to publish their news items. And everyone who has a smart phone in their hand became as a reporter or journalist.

The wider availability of nearly instantaneous micro newsfeeds has changed the very notion of our news consumption. Younger generations and technological individuals are relying on news sources that are delivered in the form of community sourced information. There news sources are often supplied in the form of friends, status, updates, blogs, trending topics and retweeted news headlines. Consumers or viewers are also wishing/branching out from one website or printed media subscription model to become better informed about current events. In the digital era humans have turned to news platforms that let them customize information awarding to their personal tastes. They expect to be able to access news headlines from their mobile phones when they are away from their computer. In here people’s relationships to news is becoming portable, personalized, and participatory.

With increased social media and more expedited modes of communication, the face of journalism has changed from television hosts to a purported public population. In the past journalists were people who wrote for newspapers, magazines, or a prepared news for broadcasting companies. Specially Facebook, twitter, posts have carved the way for anyone to become journalist. Editing and news information no longer require a long tedious process and we can appeal to a wide audience as technology has allowed information and popular culture to spread at speeds much faster than the press. Even though the press could be viewed as more reliable than social media platforms.

Moreover, nowadays the registered media organizations are following their online media for the easy updating among the more competence. Because nowadays technology has developed and cause of technology everyone like to be a reporter. It may be an individual or organization they need to get more publicity. Because of getting publicity, they are competing with each. So, there are no space for verifying news.

Especially after raised of the good governance, we have seen the restoration to a large scale of media freedom. With the gradual restoration of media rights there also need to be a gradual increase in media responsibility. Essentially the media main role is to be the voice of the voiceless and oppressed people on issues ranging from the ethnic conflict to education and health care. On these basic journalists could be trained to be a police professional who go into the dimensions of investigative, interpretative and proactive reporting or feature writing.

In that way, the basic ethics for journalists are Seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable and transparent.

But following and using ethics in social media is a question mark. Especially in the online media, the ethics are not manipulating in a regular way. Online media is developing the wider knowledge of people but while developing wider knowledge it is leading to an unethical story telling too. Recently a movement of journalists for ethics and justice was formed. The movement says its vision is to foster, sustain, and empower an ethically conscious national media. If the movement follows a proper way to form a media or social or online media in a fully ethical way, then the growing of online media would be greater gift for our next generation.

-Poongulaly Balagobalan_

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