Evolving technology has done great things for journalism. It has changed the way in which we receive and disseminate news. However, with evolving technology, undoubtedly, comes problems. Today, the journalism profession, especially those in traditional print media, are struggling.
This story about the closure of aspects of the Vancouver Sun is one we have heard many times all over the world. What I’d like to draw your attention to is a comment left under the article by Jeff Lee, a reporter at the paper. It highlights how some organizations are (arguably) changing the state of journalism in negative ways, while others are innovating and evolving it into something amazing, new, and able to interact with a broader range of people. Journalism is a fundamental and important feature of society. The necessity of a well-informed electorate cannot be understated. Quality journalism will always be important, and that should never change.
Over to you, Mr. Lee…
As one of the journalists at The Vancouver Sun who IS staying, I am mildly surprised at the fairly shallow reporting on this story. CTV did a fine job of making it sound like we’re all but closing, but that’s not the case. In fact, the better story is about how the newspaper industry is actually reinventing itself, changing how it delivers news to the platforms that now exist. Through adversity comes opportunity, and for those of us who choose not to take the buyout the answer is we may well be redefining how journalism in Canada is delivered. When I first started reporting in 1978, I wrote my stories on a typewriter. The Internet was actually a defence industry concept, and the world wide web didn’t exist. Today I use computers, hand-helds, WIFI, digital recorders and the like to do my job. But the ONE thing that has stayed constant is that there is still a supreme demand for quality reporting and journalism. Although I still call myself a “reporter”, others might call us “content providers”, a namby-pamby piece of pablum that doesn’t really reflect the considerable skill required for this job. What Rob did not reflect – and let’s think that in fact this was a hatchet-job done by editors who picked the quotes they wanted rather than a seasoned journalist who was given all the answers – is that in fact the print medium has stabilized with a core of over-45 readers who prefer to get their news on paper. (We’re now apparently calling them a “niche” market.) But what about all the other platforms we’re developing: tablets, mobile phones and the Internet itself? There is no question that our newspaper advertising model, based on something of a monopoly, has changed as people get their information in diverse ways. But we – like television, which is also undergoing the same economic stresses – are trying to find ways to pay for the delivery of quality journalism. CTV’s owner Bell Canada Enterprises also owns a stake in one of our competitors, The Globe and Mail, which is also going through a reorganization and also recently offered buyouts to its staff. If you are going to cover what’s happening to us, cover what’s also happening inside your own company. Ultimately, what this piece showed was the historic failing of television reporting: in three minutes it could not adequately get to the issues affecting journalism in Canada today. I’m personally banking on newspapers sticking around for a long time to come. Just like books. Will we deliver news in different ways, including through videos and online vectors now also being done by CTV and other television companies? Yep. And that has got to scare those other legacy media companies silly. / Jeff Lee, proud City Reporter, The Vancouver Sun.
Story found via CTV. H/T Quinn Palmer.
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