New Journalism: Creating and Delivering Content
I majored in journalism when it wasn’t cool to do so. The industry was changing fast and the material at my school wasn’t. I remember my Intro to Journalism professor started off the semester with a discouraging statement: a journalism degree won’t land you a journalism job. Yay optimism!
He was right—a journalism degree alone wouldn’t land me a job in the journalism industry. Practicing the new media trends as a basement blogger would. But the industry is still changing. While I spend my working hours in a digital editorial role, the new generation of ‘basement bloggers’ are creating apps and aggregating services.
At one point in college when I tried to combine my journalism major with an advertising minor my advisor shut me down. He wanted me to follow the old school newsroom approach and minor in a field I could write as an expert in (hospitality and tourism “expert” at your service). I understand how major and minoring in the same concentration seems counterintuitive, but now a journalist with ad background is like Superman with Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak—you wouldn’t immediately think it’s necessary, but soon they’re going to make a car more bad ass than the bat mobile and you’re going to be glad you have that cloak to keep a one-up on Spiderman.
The big changes from the old school newsroom are double-edged. First—like my college blogging self—anyone has access to produce, edit and publish content on the same worldwide stage as professional journalists. This means there’s more content than ever (including more that’s error laced and opinion based) and that journalists now compete to break news with everyday folks who have news capturing and sharing tools in their back pockets.
Second is the changing mentality on news. Tech-savvy generations have multiple options for news consumption like tablets, smartphones or social media sites. The balance of empowerment in media delivery has shifted; the news consumer is no longer seeking sources for news; the news producer is now seeking consumers.
So what does advertising have to do with modern day journalism? Now more than ever journalists need to know how to sell their content to readers. The ‘who, what, where, when and why’ of a story are just as important as the ‘where, when, why and how’ to publish it. Because of this shift (and my lack app building know-how) I’ve been sharpening my content delivery skills a lot in the last year and a half. Consumers will read the news when and how they want to, but having the skill set to successfully lead them to yours is the new battle in new media.
He was right—a journalism degree alone wouldn’t land me a job in the journalism industry. Practicing the new media trends as a basement blogger would. But the industry is still changing. While I spend my working hours in a digital editorial role, the new generation of ‘basement bloggers’ are creating apps and aggregating services.
At one point in college when I tried to combine my journalism major with an advertising minor my advisor shut me down. He wanted me to follow the old school newsroom approach and minor in a field I could write as an expert in (hospitality and tourism “expert” at your service). I understand how major and minoring in the same concentration seems counterintuitive, but now a journalist with ad background is like Superman with Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak—you wouldn’t immediately think it’s necessary, but soon they’re going to make a car more bad ass than the bat mobile and you’re going to be glad you have that cloak to keep a one-up on Spiderman.
The big changes from the old school newsroom are double-edged. First—like my college blogging self—anyone has access to produce, edit and publish content on the same worldwide stage as professional journalists. This means there’s more content than ever (including more that’s error laced and opinion based) and that journalists now compete to break news with everyday folks who have news capturing and sharing tools in their back pockets.
Second is the changing mentality on news. Tech-savvy generations have multiple options for news consumption like tablets, smartphones or social media sites. The balance of empowerment in media delivery has shifted; the news consumer is no longer seeking sources for news; the news producer is now seeking consumers.
So what does advertising have to do with modern day journalism? Now more than ever journalists need to know how to sell their content to readers. The ‘who, what, where, when and why’ of a story are just as important as the ‘where, when, why and how’ to publish it. Because of this shift (and my lack app building know-how) I’ve been sharpening my content delivery skills a lot in the last year and a half. Consumers will read the news when and how they want to, but having the skill set to successfully lead them to yours is the new battle in new media.