The Debate between Digital Journalism and Traditional Journalism

There have been several debates over the new media that’s going to rule out the possibilities of traditional media. This new media is no more “new” to the generation but experts are saying that it has already replaced the regular forms like newspaper, television or radio. Earlier journalism studies focused around these three sectors but the change has started to evolve and educationists are introducing digital media through workshops. Experts say the generation is knowledgeable about digital media because of on-hand experience in the media. The several workshops conducted are targeted towards aspiring digital journalists giving an insight of the do’s and don’ts of the platform and introducing the several tools that are required to market the content through the social media.

From a journalistic approach, the change was inevitable and media has never ceased from welcoming the technology. Some say that the core of journalism has remained same in whichever form it is being portrayed but some experts still deny the journalistic approach of social media news and believe it is more of accumulated resource and lacks the knowledge of the journalistic field.

The experts who are favoring the digital journalism approach has said that in any case, the audience is the target. The news is targeted towards the mass. Anything that the audience demands to know is always targeted in journalism. But millennials have a different approach towards news. There is a huge shift in the habits and expectations of the generation and the content is generated in the form that will be fit for mass consumption.

 

 

Keeping the audience in the focus

Experts say that social media is an audience-driven media and every content related query is the audience itself. Some digital media experts shared their insights on how the audience minds can be read which will give an edge to your efforts.

 

Working closely with several communities

Getting a database of the audience is important to target the content to the exact TG. There are several groups and communities in the social media which could be followed. In such communities a substantial database can be formed as people in a particular community will have the same points of interests which remain the basic reason for forming the community.

 

Allowing private submissions

This is a strategy that is being adopted by many leading media brands who have their names established in the industry. Along with the offline presence, there is also a social media page where news bytes are welcomed by the public. This approach of engaging the public in news collection is a great opportunity to know the voice of the public. Experts say that this is the way the public also get the opportunity to be the social guardian and they are very much aware of the issues that are a matter of concern.

 

The industry is under debate

The group of professionals who are opposing the idea of digital journalism says that content is everywhere in social media. But where is the value of that information? The idea is to go viral without going into the depth or quality of the content produced. As per their POV, big data is a regular feature but there is a need to analyze data which is also performed by tools as per the audience metrics and viewership. The automated research process is offering more tangible data which as per them is lacking the core and ethics of journalism as it is replacing the manual analysis method.

 

Abasiama Idaresit, the CEO of Wild Fusion said, “Digital media has come to stay whether anyone likes it or not, and it would be more profitable for the media profession if journalists embraced it rather than fight it.” He is targeting towards the upcoming journalist and asking them to use this social media to reap the trending news. If they are not ready to do so, the audience who are interested will search the various available news sources and get the required information. He asks the budding professionals to foster the integrity of the profession in the digital channel as well. While doing this, his advice is to keep a close attention to the needs of the audience. He says that content is all over and the idea is to keep the audience interested in your provided content. To sustain their interest levels, you must be updated about the pulse of the audience that you are targeting to attract through the digital media. The audience segregation is an important part of digital media and you must know where your audience is coming from and how the content will reach the audience.

 

Visualization of data

The biggest challenge of digital journalism is the visualization of the content. Showcasing has certain parameters as per which the available data is designed and presented. Words play a crucial role and the presentation is based on the word that the audience searches the most. The details of the keywords were not in the traditional medium as per experts and that is considered as a big change.

The experts say that going to the detail is important now and knowing the search metrics is equally important before presenting a news. Thus, the news is not just presenting the facts but incorporating those keywords to make a better reach. Also, the presentation of the content has changed which experts believe is just a digital media thing. As professionals, the challenge is considered tough as there is a scope of diversion at any point. The professionals working in the field thus believe the training should be different for Digital journalism as there are differences from the research level. Some sources also say that old school techniques must be cut off to some extent from the syllabus of the professional course and implementation of the new technology and use of social media metrics should be incorporated. Some scholars also think that the genre of study should be segregated and the courses must be completely focused on the digital journalism which itself is a very big genre to study upon.

 

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