The new journalism
No, not Wolfe et al, but probably a bit Gonzo. We are living, studying and working in a new mediaspace with new information industries, some of which are emerging from the ashes of old meeja businesses. This new journalism has three characteristics:
- It's networked
- It's tentative
- It's mobile.
The new journalism emerges from a networked media space where 'citizen media' sits alongside 'professional content', mashed-up information and a host of other stories, data, words, sounds and images from countless sources. The new journalism emerging from some 'old media' spaces such as The Guardian or new ones like the Huffington Post or Indymedia as well as countless new ones such as individual Blogs and Flickr streams are connected by tags, Semantic Web relations and searches.The Conversation Economy that holds these sources and practices together creates new media spaces, practices and products: the new journalism.
And that journalism is tentative. It modestly admits it is partial and always open to change as network effects and crowdsourced language create new relations, information and truth-power relations. The new spaces know they are one source among many, always connected and always moving. They know that 'readers' are 'reader/writers', partners in the creation of stories, practices and the profession of journalism.
The new journalism is technology independent. It exists in the cloud of media-information relations and practices. An always-on, always-there storyspace read and read/written on mobile devices as much as through desktops and set-top boxes. The writing, the reading and the read-writing is part of everyday life and every space.
The new journalists
The old class distinctions are breaking down in the face of this new industry. The hack is losing his privileged position. It is not just that 'citizen journalists' are elbowing their way into the temple. Those who earn their living from stories and those who don't are changing the job description to match the new realities and tell the new stories. They have three characteristics:
- They are networked
- They have VISION
- They are Conversation Attractors.
The new journalists are connected. They research and tell their stories (in words and pictures and sound) from within the Conversation Economy, not from a position outside. They connect storytellers and stories and add value through synthesis and analysis.
They write with words and pictures following different principles: VISION (
PDF at w
ww.theinternationale.com). They have
Voice, they talk like humans. They
Improvise; they connect people, and stories and like a jazz musician pick up a riff and run with it. They are not afraid of the
Simple, the overlooked detail which can illuminate the whole, the punctum. They talk with an
I but with a small i; more modest, more willing to be tentative. They are
Open source, aware of the power of crowdsourced storytelling. And of course they know the power of the
Narrative.
They are not in charge but they can becomes the centre of attention, the attractor that warps discourse space, causing conversations, language and relations to gravitate around them (
PDF at w
ww.theinternationale.com).
The new journalism education
The new education is not about training the new priesthood. It is about giving people the skills to become the new Journalists and build - not simply join - the new Journalism industries. The new education is about:
- Network skills
- Analysis and synthesis skills
- Always on attitudes.
The new education empowers its students to use RSS, the Semantic Web and tagging to bring stories and storytellers together. It enables them to play a full part in reading and writing within the Conversation Economy.
The new journalists need different research and writing skills. They need to be able to find stories, and co-storytellers, connect the information, data and stories and tell them with VISION.
The education isn't confined to class or 9-5. The new journalism is 24/7 and so is the new education. The new student is always connected, always linking and always playing an active part in the conversation economy.
