Lecture Notes: Structural Characteristics of the New News Environment

One of the greatest advantages for our communities is that the newspaper business is becoming more democratic, due to technological advancement. People can demand to know about stories that were once left out of the paper due to space constraints. People can judge for themselves what is important and can shape the content of online publications. Also, instead of just being told about problems or circumstances, the public can discuss possible solutions or changes. As Professor Tracy writes, “By questioning traditional news judgment, audiences can set an alternative agenda.” No longer do a handful of people decide for the public what is important for the public to know. Now, the public has the opportunity to tell journalists what it wants to know about. “It requires the audience to question, and it sheds a different light on the traditional concept of news judgment,” Tracy wrote.

The internet forces journalists to reevaluate whom they work for. We are supposed to be providing a service to the public, not just distributing content in order to make profit. The motives for writing may change and journalists should welcome feedback from the audience they are serving. “When viewed as an ecology, news is not a product to be consumed but a conscious act to engage and produce shared information that has value in a community: this is how cultures and societies create their histories. Thus news is not an economic transaction but a social and cultural practice” If anything, this new model of journalism takes journalists back to their roots, when they wrote for bettering society instead of just competing to sell the most sensational stories. The internet brings the community together and gives a voice to everyone who wants to participate.

Overall, I think Citizen Journalism is a good thing, especially when it is in response to actual reporting done by a publication. This shows that the public is civically involved. Right now our country is facing a lot of difficult problems and we need to come up with several innovative solutions. The type of discussion about current events and local news that takes place on the Internet is greatly beneficial to society on the whole because one idea can inspire another, and can have a snowball effect.