Can journalism be saved?
By Oba Williams
Although it is important for journalists to know their history and the moments that helped to shape the Journalism industry as we know it. In order for the Journalism industry to survive to the decade and beyond, we must make note that legitimate Journalism is not only done by well-known publications like Time Magazine and the Wall Street Journal.
Although bigger publications such as the New Yorker, Time, and The Washington post etc., have a lot more than some ‘Skin in the game’ with some having been around for almost a hundred years plus.
Many people consumers and Writers alike tend to look at older publications as the shining example of what, A1 journalism should be. Often looking at newer or less well-known publications as nothing more than a byproduct of a digital age.
On the topic of a digital age and emerging technology, journalism as a whole needs to be able to foreshadow the next technology trend in order for them to be able to properly regulate it.
To keep it ethical, they will need to adopt new standards and procedures that incorporate the use of new technology, rather than waiting until it is widely in use and a journalist does something that invades a person sanctity or worse. An example of this can be seen in the example can be seen in the form of Facebooks AI-based algorithms; where it would flag right-leaning politically based stories on the site as fake news and removing it.
Causing right wing and republican users as to allege that Facebook is being biased. Based on the current trend of people using bots and AI-assisted technology to spread false news stories and other content such as tweets, pictures, and videos.
Without proper measures put in place to combat new technology, whether it involves news companies investing in technology that identifies bots being used to publish false information or hiring more experts that have an intimate knowledge of new technology and how it operates.
As for the issue of diversity in many Newsrooms, unless companies are able to find and hire people of diverse backgrounds then journalism will cease to exist; either due to a lack of cultural reference when reporting on subject matter not familiar to a white male, or someone with a left-leaning or a right-leaning political affiliation.
Although some newer online publications like Vox and Buzzfeed, have actively implemented the idea of diversity in their newsrooms and not just in the stories and other content that they publish.
