Where, oh where, have my sports highlights gone? The internet – that's where. I used to be able to flip to SportsCenter at 10 P.M. and find out everything I wanted to know about my hometown teams, but that has since become a thing of the past. If I want to be sure I get the score from the Suns game, I better be ready to check the Arizona Republic's website. And for that matter, I'm sure I will find video highlights and extra game notes that SportsCenter couldn't give me.
The shift from print, to television, and finally to the internet doesn't just affect sports writers. We've all heard it over and over again, to be a successful journalist you better be able to write, shoot, and edit. Heck, if you want to be really good you should probably be able to post your stuff online. The internet has totally eliminated the need for the middle-man. Now all you need to be a journalist is a camera phone, pen, and paper.
Are we really moving away from having "journalists"?
Video Courtesy: YouTube
Convergence has been knocking on our doorstep for some time and we are now beginning to see how multi-dimensional journalists can be. My favorite TV station at home employs a KU grad just to cover online-exclusive news. I talked to Nat this summer and she says that even though she works with other online people, she is responsible for putting together her own packages (hmm sounds like what we do here in 692).
The reality is that people are spending more and more time online and getting their news from multiple sources. We no longer need TV stations or newspapers to be the gatekeepers of what is or isn't news. The internet allows anyone and everyone to decide what needs to be put online and the technology to do this is only making it easier. Sports media may be the guinea pig for all of this, but rest assured that everyone else is following in their footsteps.
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