What is Changing in our Newsrooms?
By Dayanara Analuisa
Newsrooms are under immense pressure to not only keep up with technology but to stay relevant in the public eye. The future of journalism is changing and if newsrooms don’t keep up with that change then they might be left in the dust.
Newsrooms have attempted to gravitate away from traditional journalism toward a more modern way with technology. Social media has been proven to have an impact on their audience and is becoming more of a norm in this digital world. Most journalists either have their own social media accounts, blogs, or a social media platform they use to promote their work or share opinions.
The integration of technology and social media into the newsroom makes pieces get out faster and more efficiently.
According to Jennifer Brandel’s “Questions are the new Comments,” she illustrates a new type of newsroom that creates stories based on the audience’s comments.
Many newsrooms and journalists may not know what the audience wants or may not even care what they might want to see. This transformation Brandel is proposing allows journalists to take into account the comments that readers leave, and use those ideas when working on a new piece. This changes the role of a journalist from a gatekeeper working for the public to a “connector” working with the public.
However, because this isn’t a well-known idea among newsrooms, it hasn’t been successfully done but if journalists took this idea into account, it can become a reality.
Diversity can be a key factor in a successful newsroom. Diversity doesn’t necessarily only mean different races or genders, although that is also needed in a newsroom. However, it can also mean not sticking to one specific beat or area of interest.
Different types of audiences tend to gravitate toward stories that may not typically be covered. Newsrooms that have tried to become more diverse on what they decide to cover usually gets more attention from readers.
