Online Journalism

Journalism is constantly changing due to technology. With social media, almost anyone could call themselves a journalist. Social media has also led to aggregation being very prominent, which is the reposting/resharing of news that has already been shared by a journalist or news site. Technology has also affected how journalists share news. While newspapers still exist, most people consume news online or through television. This has led to the 24/7 news cycle. There is almost always something going on, and social media has made it very easy for people to stay up to date on news anytime, anywhere. Journalists also change how they report news online compared to a physical release (IE: Newspaper or magazine). Social media/online websites make it very easy for journalists to cover breaking stories or stories that need to publish sooner than later. Journalists can save some of the “softer” stories that don’t need to be published right away for a physical release. This is also one of the examples of “convergence”, which is when journalists use different tools to report news. Another example of convergence is multimedia. Journalists now have the capability to utilize not just text, but photos, videos, hyperlinks, and much more to flesh out their article. Modular content is an approach where you would break down your content to be used across multiple platforms. The place that I see this the most these days is short-form videos that get posted on various social media platforms. Most often, it’s Tik Tok videos that would get reposted. Modular content allows for news to get spread quicker as well as reach more people.