How Mobile Devices and Social Media Have Affected Journalism

Gone are the days of “going with your gut” journalism. It’s been replaced by a new constantly evolving and digital first form of journalism that has adapted to the rapid advancement in communications technology. Now anyone in the world can check the news in seconds, and chances are they’re using social media on their mobile device. A majority of news prefer to use these technological advancements and newsrooms have had to adapt. Print journalism has greatly shifted towards a digital format, often with a subscription fee. Large mainstream newspapers like the Washington Post and New York Times have multi-faceted subscription format and mobile apps that’s allowed them to thrive after the dawn of the internet threatened paper news. TV Stations have adapted particularly well. A majority of stations have free websites and mobile apps that viewers can access. Radio stations have been less fortunate as only a minority have created apps and websites. Social Media has made the concept of web-centric journalism much more complicated. News publications don’t get the majority of their web-traffic from their websites and apps. It’s now all down to the social media algorithms. These publications are now at mercy to these social media algorithms created by powerful private tech companies.

Discussion Questions:

1. What the positives and negatives of an age allows anyone to post content

   1. One positive would be an abundance of knowledge, inversely a negative would be a higher chance of misinformation spreading

2. What is meant by an “active” audience? How have news consumers' habits changed?

   1. An active audience is one that engages and communicates with the journalists creating news contents. News consumers now mainly use social media on mobile devices to consume news, this was unheard of 30 years ago.

3. Describe the relationship between audiences and journalists today

   1. The relationship between journalists and their audiences is an “active” one. Both content creators and consumers have a fluid and consistent dialogue with each other

4. What are skills needed for journalists navigating a mobile and social landscape?

   1. Graphic design, social media and mobile literacy, website building.