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Risks and Opportunities for Good-quality Journalism

Financial Times newsroom. (Creative Commons photo c/o Adam Tinworth)

Digitization brings new opportunities to journalists in three notable respects (âàæëèâèõ àñïåêòàõ): faster news delivery, better access to sources and information, and more interaction with readers. Nearly two-thirds of the 56 countries in the study noted that digitization had quickened news production and delivery cycles, trends that are most remarkable in countries in Asia and in North and South America. In about half of the countries, most of which are emerging economies (ç åêîíîì³êàìè, ÿê³ ôîðìóþòüñÿ, ç ïåðåõ³äíèìè åêîíîì³êàìè) such as China, Brazil, India, and South Africa, digital media have provided more sources and information to journalists. In almost all the countries digital media enhanced (ïîêðàùóâàòè) the interaction between the editorial team and readers, making it easier for reporters to learn about customers’ reading habits and interests.

In Germany, for example, digital technology has not only given journalists the possibility of reaching more sources but it also has let them dig into (çàíóðþâàòèñÿ) the details of a story to improve their copy. In Canada, meanwhile, digitization has enabled the creation of large databases and archives that allow journalists to retrieve (ðîáèòè âèá³ðêó) background information much faster than was the case in the analog world. Building stronger relationships with readers and viewers has been one of the biggest benefits that digitization has brought to journalists:

Digital transformations in the newsroom and in use out in the field have enabled journalists to exploit digital media tools to their advantage. By enhancing their ability to retrieve information through search engines and smartphones, locating sources and building relationships with new and old audiences through j-blogs (æóðíàë³ñòñüê³ áëîãè) and social networking sites and democratizing the former role of the copy taster (a person who selects or approves text for publication, esp. in a periodical ), journalists are able to widen their source base and improve their interview questions when under pressure.

Similar trends are found in Singapore where “the internet has become an important source for news stories, a crucial platform for distributing news, as well as receiving instant feedback from readers.”

However, digitization has also posed challenges and risks to journalistic standards as the news cycle shrinks (ñêîðî÷óºòüñÿ), and the internet has made it more convenient for journalists to commit plagiarism. In more than half the countries, reporters pay less attention to verifying the facts and sources for their stories. The prevalent (ðîçïîâñþäæåíå) use of published materials and rumors (÷óòêè) in news stories has posed “the most pervasive (íàñêð³çí³) threats” that digitization has brought to journalism.

Perhaps the biggest role that digitalization plays in journalism lies in news gathering and dissemination rather than in news quality.

In developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Finland, as well as developing countries like China, South Africa, Brazil, India, and Egypt, there were declines (ïîã³ðøåííÿ, ñïàä) in original content and increasing copy-and-paste journalism in the news media. An equal number of emerging and developed economies reports noted practices like prevalent plagiarism, violation of copyright law, or quoting without attribution (ïîñèëàííÿ íà äæåðåëî). Such practices span (îõîïèòè) a broad spectrum of countries, ranging from the United States and Canada in North America, and Egypt, Kenya and South Africa in Africa, to Asian countries like China, Japan, India, and Indonesia.



Time pressures and fast-paced (ñòð³ìêèé, òàêèé, ùî øâèäêî ðîçâèâàºòüñÿ) journalism have made journalists more prone to (ñõèëüíèìè äî) mistakes. In Brazil, “the quality of news has been compromised by an editorial workflow that privileges speed over accuracy. The race to deliver news as fast as possible can lead to deficient revision practices and inconsistent (íåïîñò³éíèé) fact checking, along with a tendency to reproduce content as it is received—in the format of, for example, press releases—as opposed to properly finding and checking sources.”

In Malaysia, newspaper editors said that plagiarism was very easy online using the copy-and-paste function. According to Yong Soo Heong, editor-in-chief of Bernama, Malaysia’s state-owned news agency: “Previously, some news editors would say ‘Do not read the Bernama ticker tape (ñåðïàíòèí, ëåíòà ò³êåðà – infomation about trades),’ and come up with an original story first. But we can’t do that now because everyone can read online and search Wikipedia or Google.”


Date: 2015-01-02; view: 796


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