Traditional Media Must Adapt in Today's Transforming Landscape, Says Journalism Expert
WASHINGTON, January 25, 2006 — Today’s media outlets must understand that the news consumer is quickly becoming his or her own editor, Tom Rosenstiel, Director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism and Vice Chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, told IRP Fellows here today.
An “on-demand” audience now has more ways to dig up its own information, and journalists are not the gatekeepers they once were, Rosenstiel said. “That concept is obsolete, on a lot of stories.”
Rosenstiel said changes in technology are breaking apart the notion of who controls the news. While the number of outlets that present news is increasing, the audience for most of those outlets is shrinking.
How do journalists survive in this kind of market? Rosenstiel said he believes that traditional media outlets must embrace the Internet. “The big issue for the future in news is who can figure out what the new role of journalism will be, and deliver that online and innovate the potential of that new medium.”
Rosenstiel said newsrooms ought to become more transparent. “If we think we do a better job of verifying the news, vetting the news, checking the facts, whatever, we need to show people how we do that.” He added: “If that is our competitive advantage, we need to show our work more.”
A former Los Angeles Times journalist, Rosenstiel suggested that newsrooms reorganize and raise the level of expertise among reporters. In addition to storytellers, some might be experts at researching difficult subjects. Rosenstiel said “subject teams” could include a researcher, audio and video reporter, and print journalist.
“This is a big departure,” Rosenstiel said, “but that’s what the Internet makes possible.” He said it’s unfortunate that today’s trend is quite the opposite of growing specialization. As audience numbers decline, jobs are cut and there are fewer specialists in newsrooms.
Rosenstiel emphasized the need for a new economic model for journalism. For example, network TV news packages might be better suited for the Internet, where a good story can be downloaded for days. Therefore, media outlets need to find a way to make money from the Internet. He said that means changing what kinds of stories are available on the web. For newspaper articles online, “if we’re going to get people to pay for it, it’s got to be different than what we produce in print,” Rosenstiel said. “It’s got to be better."
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