Digital Technology and Communications Jobs: Journalism

Digital technologies at a modern press conference
Image credit: Kai Mörk (CC BY SA 3.0 DE)

Communications professionals in the modern age of digital information and communication technologies (ICT) must not only be well versed in the traditional skills of their trade but also a host of new multimedia-based competencies. This is especially true in the journalism field, which has seen a sharp decline in newspaper and nightly news audiences at the same time as it has tried to keep up with demand for news and information on mobile and web-based devices.

Graph courtesy of Michal Mandal of the Progressive Policy Institute

Shifting Trends

While the media vehicles news outlets use are changing, journalism itself remains a robust profession. Lyon (2013) quips that "digital technologies continue to redefine journalistic practices," writing that "technological innovation in journalism is creating new jobs" (para. 12-13), and Kolodzy (2013) affirms that the "interest in news isn't fading away, but [rather] interest in many of the ways it has been delivered to people" (p. 2). Indeed, Mandal (2013) claims, "there seems little doubt that technology and innovation in journalism is creating new jobs in different industries even as the old companies and old industries are being undermined" (para. 10). The skills required of these new jobs, however, may be more diverse than those needed by reporters of the print and broadcast era.

An Expanded Journalist's Toolkit

Far from replacing traditional journalism, new media have enabled the profession to flourish and expand--albeit in a more modern guise. Kolodzy (2013) explains that, regardless of medium, there are "eight essential elements of a news story: focus, newsworthiness, facts, sources, clarity, answers, audience, [and] ethics" (p. 14). Reporters have long been educated in how to cover these basic elements and to gather and share information in an ethical, balanced, detailed fashion. What digital platforms and multimedia tools have done is increase the options journalists have for providing comprehensive coverage, disseminating their stories to a wide audience, and doing so in a timely fashion. Kolodzy notes that, although the basic tenets of the profession still hold sway, "Technology has expanded the complexity and variety of [...] storytelling tools" (p. 24). She cites audio and video package development, information graphic creation, "interactivity via comments and social networking options (p. 129), and search engine optimization (SEO) as examples of new technology-based skills that budding reporters need to hone.

Emily Bell on journalism training and the future of digital media 

Recap

Traditional print and broadcast journalism has been on the decline, yet the demand for skilled news reporters has actually increased thanks to the growth of digital media platforms. Today's journalists require the same education in terms of writing, research, and ethics, but they also need to cultivate skill with the electronic tools they will use to gather and share information.

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References

Kolodzy, J. (2013). Practicing convergence journalism: An introduction to cross-media storytelling. New York, NY: Routledge.

Lyon, A. (2013, August 24). Why a declining industry isn't bad news for journalists. Liquid State Blog. Retrieved from http://liquid-state.com/why-a-declining-industry-isnt-bad-news-for-journalists/

Mandal, M. (2013, August 10). Declining industries vs growing jobs: What the WaPo deal tells us about innovation. Progressive Policy Institute. Retrieved from http://www.progressivepolicy.org/issues/economy/what-the-washington-post-deal-tells-us-about-the-future-of-jobs/