Our first online lecture at Cardiff Journalism School was given by Amanda Powell, head of BBC Wales Online. In all honesty, there wasn't much about her lecture that really struck a chord with me. Of course, she has a great knowledge of online journalism and was able to give us a glimpse of the realities of internet news. For that i'm grateful, but at times it seemed like she was preaching to the converted.
We are all (I hope) aware of the changing face of journalism in the digital age. This was also not the first time we had been told that the future for journalists is uncertain. We are being advised to prepare for battle without being given any weapons or told where the battlefield is.
The warning has been sounded time and again that Fleet Street is no more. Three hour liquid lunches are a thing of the past; cigarette smokers will be punished with public flogging in the streets of Wapping. That's all very well, but has anyone stopped to consider the implications of all of this for us whippersnapper reporters? Given the competition for jobs in newspapers these days, we are under as much pressure to perform as trainee lawyers or civil servants, but with a fraction of the financial prospects. Of course, that isn't why most of us are doing it, but the point still stands: A young journalist nowadays can't help but be insecure, unless they are absurdly overconfident.
Consider the pitfalls we face: Defamation law has become so opaque that it can be interpreted in ten different ways by ten different judges; the advent of online journalism and soon, mobile phone journalism, means that a reporter must have more than one style of writing in his/her quiver; a libellous statement made against a global corporation or group can be actionable in any country in the world. An unwitting reporter may therefore find themself facing civil proceedings all over the world. These are just a few of the distinctly new and potentially disastrous problems we face.
All of this sounds like a complaint. It isn't. The insecurity makes for a more exciting ride. But it is worth bearing in mind that today's reporter must be alert to dangers that our predecessors never encountered. They claim to be acutely aware of this: don't forget to remind them of it.
We are all (I hope) aware of the changing face of journalism in the digital age. This was also not the first time we had been told that the future for journalists is uncertain. We are being advised to prepare for battle without being given any weapons or told where the battlefield is.
The warning has been sounded time and again that Fleet Street is no more. Three hour liquid lunches are a thing of the past; cigarette smokers will be punished with public flogging in the streets of Wapping. That's all very well, but has anyone stopped to consider the implications of all of this for us whippersnapper reporters? Given the competition for jobs in newspapers these days, we are under as much pressure to perform as trainee lawyers or civil servants, but with a fraction of the financial prospects. Of course, that isn't why most of us are doing it, but the point still stands: A young journalist nowadays can't help but be insecure, unless they are absurdly overconfident.
Consider the pitfalls we face: Defamation law has become so opaque that it can be interpreted in ten different ways by ten different judges; the advent of online journalism and soon, mobile phone journalism, means that a reporter must have more than one style of writing in his/her quiver; a libellous statement made against a global corporation or group can be actionable in any country in the world. An unwitting reporter may therefore find themself facing civil proceedings all over the world. These are just a few of the distinctly new and potentially disastrous problems we face.
All of this sounds like a complaint. It isn't. The insecurity makes for a more exciting ride. But it is worth bearing in mind that today's reporter must be alert to dangers that our predecessors never encountered. They claim to be acutely aware of this: don't forget to remind them of it.
posted by Rob Davies at 12:52 AM
1 Comments:
your blogs are kool. well written.
still no shortage of people wanting to express an opinion in the new and more traditional formats though...
...oh no, what have i just done? why am i writing this? will all this diversity of opinion make the world more democratic?
Post a Comment
<< Home