Ch. 2 Reading

Chapter two of Telling the Story focused on the changing landscape faced by media professionals and, specifically, what steps they need to take to succeed in spite of it.

Many people argue that journalism is a dying field. However, while media is going through a tremendous shift, the future is still promising. The reason for this is that people still heavily rely on the media to be informed. The change is occurring in the ways people receive information, not in the amount of information. That being said, in order to be successful, journalists need to be in tune with the public and adapt to the new forms of media.

Web-based media is the next generation’s preferred source of news. Journalists need to be trained how to work with video editing and web design to have the best chance of being successful today. But this does not mean newspapers and television news are going extinct. They are far too profitable to become totally obsolete. Still, they are becoming more novelty than necessary.

Another factor that will keep newspapers alive is Convergence. This idea that “consumers should be able to get news on their terms, however and whenever they want it” is forcing newspapers, such as the The New York Times to become involved in digital media. In fact, the majority of news on the Internet still comes from Legacy media.

This is important to me because it shows that I need to have a very diverse skill set to have success as a journalist. Additionally, it gives me comfort knowing that there are still many opportunities to be a journalist in our world today. Lastly, I really took away the importance of earning the public’s trust and how crucial it is to be honest and fair when reporting the news.