The digital journalism paradigm (transversely)

The ubiquity of the internet has meant that the digital realm is thriving providing various channels of opportunity for users.  In this digital age we have seen the rise of the blogger, the rise of the citizen journalist, the rise of social media and the rise of sharing information.  The digital realm has also meant that that certain industries have had to adapt and change in order to compete, including journalism.

Newspapers have had to adapt and provide content in the online space, including the UK newspaper the Guardian.  The Guardian has developed an ‘open journalism’ platform so that readers can be involved and get the most up to date content.  Editor, Alan Rusbridger has developed 10 principles of open journalism and how journalism has had to adapt to continue to exist and be profitable.  Some key principles include; encouraging participation, initiating debate and publishing as the beginning of a debate not the end (see here for further information).  Journalism and the internet has also meant that young journalists have to become ‘multiplatform journalists’, able to produce content, video and images which are included in most stories online.  This content has meant that stories can be taken to a new level being interactive - not possible in print form.  Some amazing Australian examples of this include the Sydney Morning Herald’s ‘Bikie Wars’ story which combines video, images, sound and design to create a layered viewing experience for the reader.  The Walkley Award winning Maroondah Leader’s ‘Feeling the Strain’ is another example which took an in-paper series of stories and expanded on them with compelling multimedia galleries and relevant background information and links.

This open journalism platform is intended to create debate and discussion by readers and is turning readers into citizen journalists.  This debate by readers can in some cases create new stories; a relevant and recent example of this is the Samantha Brick media storm.  After writing an article for the Daily Mail about being attractive, reader comments and social media went through the roof discussing their opinion on this article.  This is what media companies want through their open journalism platform, however, the comments and social media storm caused after this article turned ugly and nasty with readers commenting on how ugly Samantha Brick was some evening saying she deserved to die.  In this circumstance it is worth questioning where the line should be drawn in the sand with the open platform.

The current journalism paradigm has meant media companies have had to adapt and they may not be 100% there yet.  The adapting, as mentioned in this blog, has resulted in in-depth multimedia journalistic pieces not possible in print but also, on the other hand, the potential for debate and discussion to turn ugly and severely negative.