Historically speaking, we denizens of the so-called “Information Age” are privy to more media, data, stimulation, news, facts, and fictions than any of our predecessors. Given the meteoric rise to ubiquity that the smartphone has enjoyed in the 30 years since its conception, and the increasing powers of computers to process and generate content (and, more scarily, even evidence), it is becoming hard to know what sources to trust – and, therefore, what media to consume.
And yet, we are only 50 years from the era of trusted national broadcasters, independent newspapers that prided themselves on their integrity, and a media culture where false information would be called out and fact-checked, rather than plastered all over the internet without context. So – what happened?
Everything, Everywhere, All At Once
Well, probably the most critical reason for changes to journalism in the digital age is the unprecedented access almost everyone has, almost instantly, to more or less the total of human knowledge in a slim, highly portable package. I am talking, of course, about the ESV Pocket Bible (only joking). Especially if we’re talking about events of global significance or interest, technology allows the media machine to spring into action and alert people anywhere with mobile service to what’s happened (as well as to try and be the first to get their spin across: first impressions matter) with a speed previously unimaginable using previous generations of communications technology.
In the past, journalists would have had to gather eyewitness accounts and reports of an event, write them up, post a telegram to a central office, have physical newspapers printed, and then wait for them to be distributed throughout the country. Nowadays, though, we often expect minute-by-minute coverage of breaking stories via the internet, which we don’t even have to be near a television or radio set to access, since we have both in our pocket.
The Rise of the Citizen Journalist
Smartphone technology has arguably also had a democratizing effect on journalism, as by providing a portable camera, keyboard, and platform on which to publish the fruits of these content trees, it enables anyone who feels moved to do so to engage in a bit of citizen journalism. While before you may have had to be a qualified, degree-holding journalist, with a Masters in Journalism online, working for a major publication to have the time, resources, and platform to create meaningful, informative media, the ordinary person can bear witness to anything extraordinary they might see or hear.
This has robbed media mega-groups of much of their traditional ability to gatekeep and curate the news available to the common person, which has had an overwhelmingly positive effect on the field, although it is not without its drawbacks. By its very nature, anyone can be a citizen journalist and, as such, their content, while appearing “true,” may be misleading, incorrect, or hateful, as it is not subject to any official editing or moderating (especially following recent announcements vis-a-vis fact-checking on Facebook, et al.).
Multi-media News
There have also been revolutionary changes to the physical medium through which we consume our media, as well as the speed and culture of it. The physical newspaper – for so long essential to democratic function and public information, and to many the herald of the modern era, following Herr Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press – is suffering a slow and painful death. It’s being replaced with digital copy, or written off altogether in favor of “bite-sized” news available on social media platforms, podcasts, or increasingly sensationalist, rambling TV “News” channels.
The Decline of the Local Newspaper
A specific symptom of the phenomenon outlined above, the decline of the local newspaper has significant implications for not only journalists but communities and democracies the world over. America has lost one third of the newspapers it had in 2005: such a loss dilutes our already fast-melting sense of community, and the importance that we place on the stories (and therefore lives) of other humans in the areas that we share with them, be that a city, village, borough, school, or parish. In my opinion, the total loss of the local newspaper would be a great loss for soulful humanity, and a win for cultureless, faceless, international capitalist hegemony – but perhaps that’s just how it goes.
While a lot of these changes do sound scary, much good has come out of the digital age’s reconfiguration of journalism and media, too. We’ve touched on citizen journalism, which was central to the breaking of stories such as the murder of George Floyd in 2020; the speed of communication technology also allows people to react and discuss in real time, increasing engagement with news – it’s just a question of checking your sources, and remaining respectful.
