The evolution of Journalism

Clay Shirky, the man who studies the connection of our society with the Internet. An Associate Arts Professor at the Interactive Telecommunications Program and as an Associate Professor for the Journalism Department for NYU, Shirky has plenty of experience dealing with the development of journalism in our society. Shirky has been interviewed by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Wired, Harvard Business Review and Business 2.0 regarding the Internet since 1996.

Shirky wrote “Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable” and “Nostalgia and Newspapering” as an evaluation for how far journalistic work has come. The article, “Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable” was written on March 13, 2009. This particular article shows the development of print journalism to online journalism. He explains how news that was told kept on changing from the day it was shown to the public. It showed how news was done in print and started switching over to online. With the changes of modern technology, print journalism has become a hassle in terms of cost and just the fact of printing it for the public. Online publication of news was a more reasonable approach as it cost less and it was an easy access for the public to get their news. Shirky said, “Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism.” With that saying he is explaining that the society does not need newspapers to just get the latest news when the internet is an easier way to access it.

The other article Shirky wrote which is known as, “Nostalgia and Newspapering” was written on June 17 2014. In this particular article, Shirky gave an update on how far journalism has come. He explained the reality of where journalism stands in today’s society. Comparing his previous article, “Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable,” Shirky has definitely to this date stood by his decision that he has expressed in that article. He has come to a conclusion that print journalism is a dying era and technology will take over sooner or later. He gave a big explanation on how a man named Aaron Kushner is trying to bring print back in business, and Shirky feels strongly that it is going to be a failure.

As a journalism student, I have mixed feelings regarding both print and online journalism. With the technology we have today, majority of the people tend to get their news online, rather than paying a dollar for a newspaper by the street. Working on assignments for my journalism classes have been quite interesting. Some professors want our work to be printed as a hard copy to be handed in but then there are some who wish to have it sent and published through online. The fact that we are able to spread news with different methods such as audio recordings, online publications, and many more, it has opened up a new window for journalism. It is interesting to learn these different ways journalists can write their articles for the public to see. I do believe print journalism will still be around no matter what because it has been the pioneer of delivering news to the public and there are still people out there who prefer to have a printed format rather than a online version of it. It may not be as big as it use to be but it will probably still be around for a long time.