By VENUS LEE
The UNITY News

“Change.”

The term often strikes fear in the hearts of people. It is only natural.

But change is not necessarily bad. It all depends on your perspective and how you frame it.

The journalism industry has undergone a series of changes. Newsrooms are converging, companies are shifting their focus to online, and people are losing their jobs.

When the industry suffers through a series of layoffs and buyouts, it is easiest to accuse the newest player on the scene — the Internet.

We are so quick to blame the Web for our woes that we forget the issue is not that simple. Other factors such as a lagging economy contribute to the decline in the journalism industry.

Journalists are not the only professionals getting the boot. Job cuts are happening across the nation in all sectors of the economy. Labor Department figures show employers cut 17,000 jobs from their payrolls earlier this year. Should we blame the Internet for this as well?

Even if the Internet is partly responsible for the declining news industry, our pessimistic nature makes it easy to forget the many benefits of the Internet.

It offers a plethora of opportunity, allowing journalists to do much more than they could do with the limitations of paper or television. News reports can include searchable databases, audio, video and animated graphics and be interactive. The variety of news is not constrained by space or time. People are able to access as much as they want from nearly anywhere at anytime of the day. The Internet also provides a fairly inexpensive way for companies to gather and disseminate news.

First, journalists gain an additional valuable resource. The Web is a treasure chest of information. Data that could take days to gather from various sources is easily accessible at the click of a button. Contact information for sources not found in the telephone book is easily found online. Online communities such as Facebook provided journalists with a gathering ground to find sources.

Second, the Internet allows journalists to expand their skill set. Journalists, to a large degree, embrace the changes that are thrust upon them, a Project for Excellence in Journalism survey found. A majority say they like doing blogs and appreciate reader feedback. In fact, most journalists find the multimedia experience enriching instead of overwhelming.

Third, the Internet creates a whole new sector of journalism jobs. A quick look at companies’ online job listings shows a healthy supply of digital jobs available. Mediabistro.com lists 500 online/new media jobs, more than any other sector. In fact, despite the Tribune Co.’s highly publicized cuts to the Los Angeles Times staff, the company offered 85 interactive job openings.

Some might think digital additions are replacing traditional jobs. On the contrary, journalism jobs are still plentiful around the country. At the start of the convention, Mediabistro.com listed 500 print and broadcast jobs available.

So many people are quick to accuse the Internet of “killing” the journalism industry. No, it’s not dead. It is undergoing a transformation.

Yes, the Internet changed the industry. Change is a natural part of life. It leads to progress. It denies us the opportunity to become complacent and satisfied. In fact, changes to the industry are not new. The newspaper industry panicked when radio and television were introduced, yet all three were able to successfully co-exist.

Embrace the change and remember, when you point the finger at someone, there are three fingers pointing back at you. Stand back, take a minute to really analyze the situation before you jump to the conclusion that the Internet has not benefitted us.

topic: Industry Issues
tags: pro and con

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 10:37 pm and is filed under Industry Issues, Online Multimedia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.