Journalism is Dead?
Thanks to Judy Gombita for passing along yet another rant-inspiring link.
From Neville Hobson - New Media Academic Summit 2008:
“Agrees with Rick, journalism is dead. If everyone is a communicator, what is their role. We’ve got to add something of value to our clients that’s strategic and beyond press releases.”
Awww shit man! You mean we actually have to do our job? I don’t know. Adding something of value? Thinking about strategy? What do you mean the press release just won’t be enough anymore??
I just don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up with the changing times. Will you? These PR doomsday theorists have me shaking in my virtual boots folks! I mean, throwing around labels like “communicator” for everyone under the sun - *shivers.* Of course everyone can communicate (they just can’t do it well - hence the reason PR as a whole will never die). That’s like saying the airline industry will go under, because we can get around by ourselves with our two little feet - without acknowledging that we can only do so much, or get so far, on our own.
Curious - do any of you take this garbage seriously? Are you worried that PR or journalism are going to disappear completely as you know them (or God forbid you’ll have a title change - not like hundreds of titles for the same thing would be anything new in this industry)? I’m not.
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Comments
But PR stands for Press Release doesn’t it?
I couldn’t agree with you more and admire your restraint. I don’t think we’ll see the death of journalism any time soon, nor the death of PR. Sure both will have to adjust to take into account that anyone who choses to can now easily publish their own views.
However much like just because you can doesn’t mean you should, I think for a lot of people just because they can, doesn’t mean that they actually will. There are a lot of people out there still who don’t get their news from an online source, let alone know what an RSS feed is, for that reason alone journalism is going to be kicking around for a long time yet.
Just realised I could rant on about this topic for a good 100 or so more lines, so will stop here.
Journalism is dead my ass!!! TO be that much naive to think that journalism can EVER be dead you have to eat a frog (or a toad for that matter) when you wake first thing in the morning!
I thought it was an interesting article. I agree, however, that journalism and PR are not dead. They are merely in a stage of adaptation to new technologies and changing public expectations. Journalism has been through many similar transitional stages in the past, and it has always survived. At all times, some journalism is abysmal and some is excellent. The same can be said of public relations. I think it’s way too early in the current process to determine how it’s all going to shake out. However, I have confidence that the demand for excellence in journalism and in PR will survive and even increase.
Even with the never-ending cycle of news concerning layoffs and budget cuts at newspaper agencies, magazine publishing companies and broadcast networks, the art and science of journalism will not die, if you ask me. I currently work in media, and sentiments like this one tend to come from folks who have worked for decades in a print industry and feel what they would probably call “the frightening tremors of social media and multimedia storytelling.” Change is difficult and it’s slow to take shape if you haven’t been trained to think about media in an entirely modern way. Journos tend to defensively protect the almighty god of authoritative content that’s professionally disseminated to the masses. And, while more media companies are adopting blogs and trying to shift into acting as news aggregators, we still need journalists and PR folks to communicate effectively. Not just communicate into the black hole of cyberspace. As for me, well, I’m an advocate of the phrase, “survival of the fittest.”