Characteristics of Journalists in the Internet Age

Characteristics of Journalists in the Internet Age

Journalism is changing: technologically, commercially, in the media, in the formats, in business models. So it is quite natural that the very role of journalists must be renewed and adapted to the unavoidable reality.

But first, we must understand what a journalist is and does:

Journalism is the profession of writing or communicating, formally employed by publications and broadcasters, for the benefit of a particular community of people. The writer or journalist is expected to use facts to describe events, ideas, or issues that are relevant to the public. Journalists (also known as news analysts, reporters, and correspondents) gather information, and broadcast it so we remain informed about local, state, national, and international events. They can also present their points of view on current issues and report on the actions of the government, public officials, corporate executives, interest groups, media houses, and those who hold social power or authority.

The new changes demanded by the job:

1- A journalist must know how to work for different media.  He must be multi-skilled and master different languages.

It’ a matter of professional survival. If being an expert in a medium is an added value, it is also essencial that we can adapt to others, just in case we’re caught up in a company restructuring. Besides, that multitasking is very useful in this age of media convergence: a journalist with good radio skills can take the production of his newspapers podcast, or use his photographic qualities to illustrate the news in his station’s website.

2-A journalist is his own editor.

Calm down, i’m not promoting the newsroom anarchy. But editorial independence is needed in these times where the news is published immediately, as breaking news or via Twitter, calling for a faster response time.  Staff cuts and new newsrooms organization -telework, for instance- promote that autonomy.  But the weight of responsibility increases.

3-A journalist is a brand.

And his own product. If the job market is volatile, freelancing is an option (as it has always been). To value himself, a journalist must know how to sell his work: by creating off-work contents – blogs, photo galleries, slideshows, videos, flash experiments ,podcasts, etc. It is fundamental to have an entrepreneurial attitude, and know how to highlight his individuality. Personal marketing weighs in here, in the way your CV/Resume and  portfolio and also the profile in social networks is presented. Besides, it becomes more easy for the audience to associate the work to the worker, which humanizes the professional and the company he works for. Proactivity is a characteristic that all good journalists must have, but is of utmost importance in a world that allows to create  your own projects with low costs.

4-A journalist must network.

It had to before, but there were geographical limitations, social and economical factors , and a whole sort of real world constraints. Online, the limit is in the number and the value of the contacts one has. A well set up professional network can increase recognition and it allows to reach out to more sources and get help.

5-A journalist is a producer.

The age of typewriters is long gone, so we need to know something more than writing. Now  programming and video,audio, photography, design knowledge are demanded, to develop multimedia works on your own or to effectively communicate when working as a team.  And we can get  that knowledge online. The final result may no longer be a text, but a multimedia package, that we must know how to make, or explain.

6-A journalist is an information archaeologist.

Think of yourselves as explorers, digital Indiana Jones. There is room for new types of journalism, driven by database use or using links to older news related to the subject we’re covering. It’s part of the new role of journalists to select, cross, select and use other sources -even from the competition- from different times, simultaneously and immediately, to explain the evolution or to frame a story.  And the web is full of information for those who know how to look it up and use it.

7-A journalist is a moderator.

The journalist is the bridge between users, the newsroom and the story’s characters. Through managing the comments of the article, crowdsourcing, and collaborating with the readers, the journalist can add value to the first published draft. We must understand that a story isn’t finished after being published, there is always  more data that can help to improve the understanding of the facts. So, it’s  part of the role of the journalist to feed, gather and filter the dialogue that now is sustained with the users, and incorporate it in the final result.

8-A journalist is a authenticator.

Amid all the user generated content and contributions is up to the journalist to verify and validate what is news or not. Fact checking is still a part of the job, but now it has a bigger importance because of the immediate impact a wrong information can have, because it spreads faster and further. This is a good example.

9-A journalist is more a traffic cop than a private investigator.

Or even better:  there will be more traffic cops than private investigators.. .I’m sorry to destroy a romantic image of journalism, but there will be less Humphrey Bogarts, the rise in the volume of information will demand for more traffic managers. Their role will be essential to guide the masses in the search for information. Sites like NewsTrust.net are a good example. Journalistic creation and investigation will continue to exist, but most of the work will be redirecting users and contents into the right places.

10-A journalist is a DJ.

Remixes and makes the news flow coherent.

…and 5 things that haven’t changed:

1-A journalist is a professional specialized in gathering, treating, creating and managing information;

2-A journalist works for society;

3-A journalist is curious by nature, and tries to know more than what is showed;

4-A journalist is the first defender of freedom of speech and information;

5-A journalist is a target;