The New Era of News Journalism

From automation to circulation, the evolution of the digital economy has disrupted and transformed the role of news journalists.

News journalists produce topical articles for newspapers, magazines and the internet. The digital economy is very aptly summed up by Deloitte as, ‘the economic activity that results from billions of everyday online connections among people, businesses, devices, data, and processes.’ (Deloitte, n.d., para. 3). How does this impact journalists though, and how can this be expected to change into the future?

Gone are the days where you pop down to the newsagents and purchase a paper covering the news from two days ago. Now, you open your computer and within 2 clicks you have access to a continually growing, live news source. This effortless public distribution of content has caused huge competition for the once few beacons of journalism. Whilst good for the consumer, certain industries such as the printing press have taken a hit. For instance, The Sun’s daily December sales have decreased from 3 million in 2010 to 1.2 million in 2019 (Jones, 2020). Radio journalism has also been impacted; upon interviewing multiple award-winning radio producer Adam Fowler, he mentioned to me that, “all the money is now in non-linear platforms, Radio 4 is doing a big push to attract ‘replenishers’ [under 35s] as they have a much more digital profile” (A. Fowler, personal communication, 6 February 2020). Whilst I agree with him that non-linear platforms are popular, I wouldn’t necessarily say this is bad, as this transition has opened new avenues for work, and has provided a more contemporary, streamlined news experience for many.

“all the money is now in non-linear platforms”

Adam Fowler

One of the biggest changes the digital economy has had on news journalism is the shifting sources of revenue, with profits becoming increasingly unpredictable. Physical papers generated most of their income through consistent sales with relatively predictable numbers. Transitioning online has allowed for the extreme utilisation of targeted adverts, undeniably their main source of revenue. This is not without its flaws; simple ad-blockers have vast economic impacts with them causing an estimated loss of $15.8 billion for US publishers in 2016 alone (Sullivan, 2017, para. 2). Why is this acceptable, yet stealing a paper isn’t? Despite the struggle, many journalists accept that online is the future, with companies hiring specialists to detect the blockers or even resort to offering extra content with subscriptions.

In the past, journalists relied on a network of people. Now, many rely on a network of algorithms. The era of sending out journalists to interview and collect possible leads is no more. With the new age wave of machine learning and artificial intelligence, rather than having to search for ideas, journalists nowadays resort to technology. This has caused a serious shift in recruitment, with technology specialists being relied upon. Computers can analyse thousands of sites, millions of potential events, and billions of social media interactions, and within seconds predict what the next best article is. This previously fundamental component of the job could soon cease to exist.

Unfortunately, however, there is some bleakness on the horizon. Developing new skills is becoming increasingly important for journalists to mitigate the propagation of one of the biggest threats to their reputation. Fake news. From the echo-chambers of social media to malicious machine-learning, the future of dependable journalism lies in their separation from the bias and counterfeits. A particularly effective way for the consumer to detect this is the AI Chrome extension FakerFact developed by Mike Tamir. This analyses an article and reports back on its validity (Tamir, 2018). Deep fakes have been particularly detrimental. Essentially, these are hyper-realistic photoshopped videos, produced in a fraction of a second, yet can ruin careers for both the video’s subject and the journalists who falsely trusted the ‘evidence’. Whilst training specialists in this niche area might sound counterintuitive, AI is not just the cause but the solution. Producing algorithms to detect the validity of visuals is going to be essential for journalists, as seeing is no longer believing.

The rapid evolution of the digital economy is so volatile that the future of this industry is hard to predict. Many believe journalism is reliant on the interpretation and communication that only humans can provide, yet others think that soon humans will be merely assisting the technology, and that the machines will overtake. I tend to take a more optimistic approach. I believe that human and machine can coexist mutualistically in this industry, harmoniously operating to create a future of journalism that is dynamic, creative and an improvement for all.

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Fowler, A. (2020, February 6). Interview with Radio Journalist Adam Fowler [Personal communication].

Jones, T. (2020). The Sun, Brand Report. https://www.abc.org.uk/Certificates/49873322.pdf

Sullivan, L. (2017, October 16). U.S. Publishers: $15.8B Annual Revenue Lost To Ad Blocking. https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/308814/us-publishers-158b-annual-revenue-lost-to-ad.html

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