Akangjungla
In a room of full of college graduates and young aspiring professionals, a question was thrown to understand their knowledge about media in the news perspective. The question was ‘what comes to your mind when you hear the word news media?’ Some responded, ‘reels’, others said ‘Facebook, YouTube, Instagram,’ and few said ‘newspapers, news channels.’ There was a clear indication that these young people did not know the difference between news and social media feeds, or rather they are unaware that these two are actually two separate units. In the past, newspapers and TV news channels were the synonyms of journalism. They were the only available forms of communicating news and updates to the general public. In today’s age of digital media, printed newspapers and magazines, broadcast news including television and radio, and websites and blogs are categories as traditional form of media. For as very long period, traditional media provided services and over the years they had established themselves and acquired important status for journalism, and also helped build trust and credibility for the brand of the media houses. Despite the feature of inbuilt limitations such as restricted interaction with the readers, inadequate reach, delayed information, higher costs for production, circulation, marketing and advertising etc, traditional media continues to be generally perceived as more reliable due to established journalistic standards and practices.
In the recent decades, the progress in science and technology inventions led to new media. In one of its informational articles, the Southern New Hampshire University writes, ‘new media is any media-from newspaper articles and blogs to music and podcasts-that are delivered digitally. From a website or email to mobile phones and streaming apps, any internet-related form of communication falls under its umbrella.’ Few examples of new media which the article cites include blogs, mobile apps, social media networks, streaming services, virtual and augmented reality, and websites. New media comes with the advantage of allowing direct and instant interaction and user-generated contents. As compared to traditional media, new media often brings along the challenges of misinformation and disinformation.
Anyhow, whether it is traditional or new media, social media has changed the trade of journalism, in ways that no one could have comprehended before its arrival. The term ‘social media’ refers to ‘a form of mass media communications on the Internet (such as on websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)’, according to the definition by Britannica.
Emergence of social media has made a huge paradigm shift in the world of journalism and the news organisations are struggling to adapt. Social media has changed the way readers receive, discover and consume news. Social media has emerged as a leading and growing source of news and information. People are getting their news and information mostly through WhatsApp and Facebook. The stranglehold of social media is reflected on the way how reading newspapers, watching and listening broadcast news are no more a preference. There has been a transformation in the news selection. Rather than reading verified and comprehensive news report, majority of consumers prefer just the headline and short video clips. Conversely, social media has also led to constant occurrences of fake news and even influenced the way news is created. The challenge is to tackle the fake news as readers fail to do fact-checking and are very quick to share, re-share unverified information through social media platform. This has been extremely tasking for the media houses and people in the news room. At the core, journalists are truth tellers and journalism is all about pursuing the truth. Today social media is affecting the landscape of journalism, tomorrow it could be the use of use of generative Artificial Intelligence tools to create news report, and in the future, new things would continue to emerge. With no resolution at hand, it would only make sense for media houses and journalists to stay relevant and engage with the readers with the rationale to maintain its trust and credibility.
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