We saw a short web video in class last Friday which was a "history" of the blogosphere and web journalism, culminating in the collapse of the New York Times somewhere around 2015. This dystopian view of the future ended with a pointed question straight out of H.G. Welles: something to the effect of "Or could there have been another way?"
I think the "dystopian" mood starts to set in for those of us who want to be journalists when we think about the inherent democratization of the web. If anyone can now be a writer, publisher, journalist, what does it mean to be a professional anymore? Will anyone value our hard work over that of say, Matt Drudge, or anyone else chattering away in the vast blogosphere? Will anyone want to pay us?
There is no simple answer to this problem, but I think as long as we in the field maintain high standards of objectivity, there will always be a demand for "real" journalism over the amateur stuff. Of course, recent scandals have indicated that many so-called "professional" journalists are not doing their jobs as well as the bloggers, so these categories remain fluid.
On the other hand, most of our in-class discussions on these issues have had a more "utopian" feel, and I myself, though somewhat of a hidebound traditionalist, have found myself caught up in this spirit.
I have rhapdodized in my blog about the seemingly endless possibilities for web journalists. The web, with its ability to encompass all the traditional media and offer unique features of its own, frees the journalist from the rigid confines of the TV story, the radio story, the print article. The journalist is now free to think about the story in its own terms. If the traditional newspaper format doesn't do the story justice, no problem: we can include any number of still or moving image formats to bring it to life much more vividly than on dead wood. Not a good visual story? No problem: we can take as much space as we need to paint a picture with words, using documentation, charts, graphs, or maps. In other words, we can do as much or as little as the story needs, no longer reliant on the demands of the traditional media.
I hope in creating the new KUJH web site we are providing a vehicle for J-School students to experiment with web journalism, to explore their creativity in this new medium while still learning the basics of print and broadcast. If we can convince them of the value of this opportunity, I think they will all want to participate.
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