By now we all know journalism is dramatically
changing with the development of technology, which sparks an associated change
in media format, specifically in the way the news is delivered and consumed.
While the mention of change may trigger
a sense of hesitation, this change can be beneficial. In many ways, the
technological changes journalism is facing allow us, as journalists, to reach
our target audience faster and easier and to better tell our stories in a way
that appeals to the consumer.
Associated Press journalist, Ted
Anthony declared, "Technology is driving the change in journalism rather
than journalism inspiring the change in technology.” One way in which
technology is driving journalism forward by means of delivery and consumption
is through storytelling. “Storytelling used to be defined by what medium we
were telling the story in, but now we have a new way to tell stories,” states Anthony.
With technology, we can tell
stories through a wide variety of formats, especially as online content through
blogs, multimedia stories, and social media. According to environmental
journalist, Bill McKibben, “following a good Twitter feed can be more valuable
and useful than watching the news." Nevertheless, traditional forms of
media like broadcast and print still exist to serve an audience who prefers the
traditional format.
No matter what changes we experience,
the main purpose of journalism remains the same: "Journalism's purpose is
to inform, engage, and activate people to be free and self-governing citizens,”
states Journalism That Matters, the organization that spear-headed the “Journalism
Is Dead –Long Live Journalism” themed conference at the University of Denver
this week.
Throughout the conference, a great
deal of emphasis was placed on the way journalists inform and engage the
audience through storytelling and engagement with the community. Storytelling is
the key to informing in an interesting way. As McKibben pointed out though,
"journalists have a bias towards novelty, but, at some point significance
needs to supplant novelty.”
Similarly Anthony advised
journalists to “learn how to interrupt the story line and learn how to
deconstruct the constructed narrative.” Anthony also mentioned that “if we want
journalism that matters, we need to help people figure out the stories that
surround them."
In order to find these stories within
the community, we must engage with the community. In journalism, engagement informs
the story, we, as journalists, engage through the story, and then engagement
with the story follows via audience response. By engaging from beginning to
end, engagement leads to unknown potential.
A big component of this potential
is the potential to develop a relationship with the community. As tweeted from
my session on engagement, “through our engagement, we want to partner with the
community and be travelers together on this journey. #jtmdenver”
Poynter Institute’s Kelly McBride
confirms the importance of our relationship with the community by stating, “Community
has the ability to self-inform so the community is the end, not the means to
our own agendas.” Community is the driving force of news and journalism.
