The changing face of journalism

A recent conference in Australia on the future of journalism in the digital age has predicted a bright future for user-generated content, but at the expense of traditional newspaper journalism.

Speaking after the conference, Roy Greenslade, a former editor of Britain's The Daily Mirror and now a columnist for the Guardian's media website, was blunt in his assessment of newspapers' future when he said they were a "dead duck." He, and other industry experts who spoke, said those who traditionally advertised in newspapers were now simply finding it cheaper, easier and more effective to advertise on the web. The so-called "rivers of gold" of classified advertising revenue in particular were drying up.

For newspaper journalists, this is something of a concern, not the least because they could soon find themselves out of a job. Newspapers, especially flagship publications, were able to fund large editorial teams, with foreign and specialist bureaus, through these hefty advertising revenues. While newspaper sales are still holding up well in Australia, they have fallen significantly in Europe and North America. The cash will soon simply not be there to pay for them.

The next concern is where does this take the quality of journalism? What if the money isn't there to fund teams of investigators to analyze events and look beyond the obvious? The Australian TV program Media Watch, produced by the ABC, the publicly funded national broadcaster that also hosted the conference, stated pieces covering celebrities, entertainment and other "fluffy" subjects were far more popular on the web than the "latest dispatch from parliament."

The program showed how one flagship publication in Australia published three celebrity articles and a "funny animal story" on the front page of its online edition while not featuring one of these pieces in its print edition.

The message seems clear that models for professional journalism are going to have to adapt very quickly if it is to survive. This is where the good news comes in for budding journalists. Greenslade said in his interview on Media Watch that these new models would most likely end up involving smaller, core teams of professional journalists, funded by smaller advertising revenues, shepherding content generated by users; a host of "amateur" journalists.

And while this may bring concerns about falling quality, Greenslade says the digital format allows for mistakes to be picked up and corrected much more quickly. He pointed out most newspapers at present are very slow and hesitant about correcting and apologizing anyway.

Digital technology also allows publishers much faster feedback on what people are reading, and want to read about – even if it is about the rise in hemlines and not food prices.

Watch the full Media Watch program here.
The Guardian's media website
Roy Greenslade's blog

/Mark