Our future in writing

"The Reconstruction of American Journalism" said it perfectly, "What is bound to be a chaotic reconstruction of American journalism is full of both perils and opportunities for news reporting, especially in local communities." I think the peril for me (and for anyone who is going into this profession) is finding a job. Whenever I tell people that I am going into journalism they immediately respond by saying you are going into a dying profession. I do not think the profession of journalism is dying, but instead it is the process of journalism that is dying. I talked with Greg O'Dell, the executive director of the EMU Department of Public Safety, and he said that when he worked in Ann Arbor he would get daily calls from news reporters for information on stories, but now the stories are posted instantly and have problems with accuracy. That right there supports my argument that accuracy has taken a back seat to speed. I think another peril with finding a job is that people can now post anything they want online. The real trouble is trying to get your work noticed. What makes it better than someone else?

The other point made was that the Internet has provided more opportunities for people. This is true. Anyone can make their own blog and post their own opinions about anything. A couple of opportunities can arise from this. If your blog gets big enough maybe you will noticed by a big name and you can get a job. If you just like to stay in the freelancing business then you can charge people to read your blog. I know a couple people that have chosen that route instead. Either way, money can be made from blogs.

I believe that journalism is being reconstructed, but this does have to be a bad thing. If you truly want a career in journalism, I believe that one way or another, this can be achieved.

Reconstruction of American journalism

Leonard Downie Jr. and Michael Schudson ask a lot of questions throughout their report "The Reconstruction of American Journalism" and one question that particularly grabbed my attention was "Will this contraction continue until newspapers and their news reporting no longer exist?" This question caught my attention because I too have wondered about the future of newspapers. Growing up I always wanted to be a sports columnist for a newspaper, and that is why I am in journalism, but ever since I have heard talk that journalism is dying I worried that I would be unable to fulfill my dream. Now I read and this question pops up. The first line I read made me breathe a sigh of relief, but after continuing on this report says that small town newspapers are not at risk. As for the larger ones they need to find a way to expand by moving their stories to an online paper as well. I feel that to be a sports columnist for a bigger paper it will now have to be online. With less and less people reading papers the business has had to reconstruct new ways to keep them afloat. It seems I will have to do the same.

Google project

I thought I would write about the Google project. I thought it was a lot of fun. I have been learning so much in this class, and I feel that it is giving me an edge for when I try to apply for jobs. As for this project, it wasn't hard to pick a template that I wanted to use. Most of my assignments have been centered around my soccer team so I felt this would be a good one too. I had a lot of fun working with the tabs, and trying to figure out the pertinent information to put on the site. I also think this is a good way to get readers to my blog because all of the soccer posts came from there. I didn't have any major problems with the blog itself. There was one thing I need to do. I had some of my friends look at it, but apparently you cannot view the schedule unless you have a Google account so I will have to find a way to change that. Other than that I was just experimenting with the options I was provided with.

Here is the link to the site: https://sites.google.com/site/nighthawkssoccer/

Just a recap of last week

Since there is no real reading assignment this week I feel that I would just use this blog post to answer questions that I got in my comments box. First off, I agree that readers will combine to form their networks. It seems that is a great way to move into this style of writing. As for the generational gap it does have an impact, whether people are too stubborn or they just won't learn a new system, this gap can be worked around to help each business. For instance my grandparents, if I designed a newspaper for them it would have the local news on the front page. I feel that would be the most important to them. I also know that my grandparent love the Lions and watch a ton of golf, so a sports section is a must. I feel that other than that just a few articles about the world and of course the weather is all that is really needed. I think all of these sections
would make for a paper that would appeal to our older generation.

As for Berners Lee, he talks about how there is a switch from printed news to Internet or media news. This is possible because of the new technology that is being introduced into the world. Most recently I have seen this in the Haiti disaster. They have had text messages that donate to the Haiti recovery and it is just charged to your bill. There are also people on Facebook that will donate a certain amount of money for every person that joins the group. Obviously there is still the sites that are just centered around relief and accept donations from their Web site. I feel that in the coming years we will see some other ways to help in times of need.

Internet: Testimony of Sir Timothy Berners-Lee

The Internet has become such a vital part to the life of every person that uses it. Is there anyone who can remember the last time they went a whole day without using it? It is such a gateway to so many different things. I mean, people use it to write, find out news (whether it be sports or actual), talk, or even just find out random things. In his testimony, Berners-Lee called the Internet "a far more speech-enhancing medium than print, the village green, or the mails." And it is just that. I mean look at the earthquake that occurred in Haiti, sure everyone knows about it because of the news (even in the paper), but if it wasn't for the Internet you couldn't find out what they are doing right now to recover. It is truly a fascinating thing. And with the Internet always changing, this will cause the delivery of news to change as well. If you don't believe me just look at the past few years. The way people use to get there news is through either papers or television. Now people are using the Internet to find news that isn't localized to their specific area. If you want to see what is going on in Chicago just go online and figure it out. It seems that with the Internet becoming such a new and speedy way to obtain news, accuracy has taken a back-seat to speed. I feel that with time a balance will be struck that can allow news to be both accurate and fast. With the ever-evolving world there will be new problems to overcome, and better ways to do things. The same will be true for the news, but if the reporters do their job and report what they are supposed to then there is no reason to believe that the process of journalism will ever become obsolete.

The future of newspapers

With American journalism changing to a much faster pace of reporting news, will the newspapers become extinct? Like Leonard Downie Jr. and Michael Schudson I feel that they won't. The report said, "Newspapers and television news are not going to vanish in the foreseeable future, despite frequent predictions of their imminent extinction. But they will play diminished roles..." I feel this is exactly what will happen. I don't feel that there will ever be the vast need for newspapers like there once was, but I still feel that newspapers are needed. For example, there are some people that do not have the Internet. My grandfather is one of those people. Every day he gets all of his information from newspapers. My other grandpa has the Internet at his house, but he still likes to the read the Sunday paper every morning before starting his day. I think that this could be a common thing for older people, but what about the youth in the world? They have grown up with the Internet. When they are older are they going to want to read the paper or get it the same way they have always done it? I feel they will use the Internet, but I feel the paper will still be useful. I still read the paper from time to time. It can give me more localized information, and it also has stories in there that aren't news worthy, but they are interesting. I feel that the newspapers will be for more local events and other random uses, but they will still be needed.