Today we are immersed in the world of User Generated content. Different online sites such as Facebook, Word press and YouTube show an array of UGC in the form of text, video and image. The sites appeal to the user on the level of empowerment and have low boundaries of access and ease to use. This trend of the virtual world is becoming the way of journalism. We have been moving towards a world today where “time has ceased and space has vanished” (McLuhan, 1967: 63)
The way journalists conduct their practice is changing. Consumers now expect an immediate response and more story elements to supplement their reading experience. According to Henry Jenkins this adaption is forcing journalists to learn new skills. Convergence signals structural change where organizations only employ journalists who can adapt to changing technology. Journalists should be able to package different multimedia, the packaging highlights news gathering convergence where once we had a camera man, a writer and photographer working on different aspects of the story.
Today the journalist is expected to use the technology and collect the stories themselves. The result questions structurally the need for certain workers within an organisation when technology such as a smart phone encompasses most of it. Those who cannot adapt are left behind and become unemployable. Finally, our need for rapid news to an extent comes at the expense of a holistic view. Anyone can create UCG but what’s circulated as news can be false and not properly checked in the formal manner news does for print (usually). This is not particularly the fault of the journalist but potentially the technology and the mediums inviting us to post for immediacy.
References:
Henry Jenkins – What Is Convergence? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFbJCdCoNIc , accessed 25/7/2014
McLuhan, Marshall & Fiore, Quentin (1967) The Medium is the Massage, New York: Bantam Books.
ALJ301 MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM, RESPONSES & THOUGHTS 