Journalism in the 21st Century

“And thats the way it is” said Walter Cronkite on his final broadcast as the anchor of CBS Evening News, which marked the end of an era of news broadcasts that hasn’t been matched since. To my mind, Cronkite was certainly the best news anchor the world has ever seen, and he set the standard for anchors who came after him. In his time, TV news and newspapers were what came to mind when the term ‘journalism’ was used.

But where is journalism today? Tedious hand-held newspapers have been replaced by articles posted on news websites; for the most part, hour long television debates have been replaced by shorter online video broadcasts.

I don’t know how it stands for most people, but most of the New York Times articles I read are on my iPad, and I have learnt more news from links to articles on social media, than I have from any other source.

Other than a few giants that still stand tall- like Time magazine, New York Times, or The Economist; the trend is pretty clear. News and journalism are moving online. And this is, by all means, a good thing. The simple click of a ‘share’ on Facebook, or a ‘retweet’ on a Twitter link to an article attracts thousands of new readers. News is spreading at a faster rate, and access to stories is easier now than it has ever been.

Two of my favourite online publications are The Daily Beast, and Business Insider.

The Beast provides a broad and expansive set of topics to read about and places politics and international news at the top of that list. They have an incredibly smooth user experience and give readers a taste of all of their most popular articles with a “Read This” list. They have different sections named “The Book Beast”, “Hungry Beast”, “Business Beast”, etc. They also have a “Cheat Sheet” that lets readers read the best articles from all over their website.

Business Insider is a financial publication, but also covers human interest stories, self improvement articles, and politics. What got me to start reading the Insider was their aggressive social media campaign. After following their Facebook and Twitter pages, I have managed at least one good article every time I went online.

The other aspect of journalism is video based. This has been manifested in television news for a very long time. But ever since the rise of video sharing websites like DailyMotion and YouTube, smaller channels have become a source for the news. Well known news networks like CBS, BBC, NBC, and MSNBC have already created online news channels, broadcasting shorter clips. This is especially true with sports news channels such as SkySports, or ABC. This has been very popular and quite successful.

Video news has been the most popular base of spreading information for almost 50 years now, and this has mostly been by means of a television set. But a surprising new source of video news coverage has emerged in the form of a comedian- John Oliver.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is HBO’s flagship variety show, and started off for a lot of people as a comedy show. But that description doesn’t even begin to cover what Mr. Oliver has managed to accomplish with his show. He tackles important stories from the Indian elections to Net neutrality. In fact, his imploring of his viewers to post comments on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) website in support of Net Neutrality crashed the website. He has managed to take stories of vital importance, that a lot of people usually ignore, and successfully given them widespread support all over the world with use of the internet as a tool for social change.

With a show that is both entertaining and informative, Mr. Oliver has come up with a miracle formula that has managed to captivate millions, and as he says in his peace about Net neutrality and the FCC, most of these issues are looked upon as ‘boring’ by majority of the people but are far too important to be seen as boring. The success of this show has more to do with the fact that it is bringing information to the people, and less to do with the humorous way in which this is done.

In my mind, John Oliver is more of a journalist than a comedian, and is one of the fronts to the age of digital journalism.

Digital Media has changed journalism. It has changed the way we see, share, and understand information. It has made us a more understanding, open, and connected society. It has helped us understand the struggles of people all over the world, and support movements we believe in. Whether it is the people of Ferguson securing equal rights; or the people of Paris marching for freedom of speech; or the protestors in Hong Kong fighting for democracy, we can be a part of the world no matter where we are.

The onset of this century has given way to new era of digital journalism, and has given the power of connectivity to all those who seek it.

Will we use this new power to globalise knowledge and help spread stories? Will we connect the world in common beliefs and raise awareness of the stories that need to be shared?

I hope the answers to these questions is a resounding yes. But until such a time that I find out, all I have is my belief that this new found connectivity and this renewed definition of journalism can help us bring forth systems that we can all agree with, and change that can unite us.