How do social networks affect journalism ?

Nowadays, there is a transformation for the journalist from being the gatekeeper of information to sharing it in a public space: “The venerable profession of journalism finds itself at a rare moment in history where, for the first time, its hegemony as gatekeeper of the news is threatened by not just technology and competitors but, potentially, by the audience it serves. Armed with easy-to-use Web publishing tools, always-on connections and increasingly powerful mobile devices, the online audience has the means to become an active participant in the creation and dissemination of news and information. And it’s doing just that on the Internet.” Therefore participatory journalism (also known as “public”, “citizen”, “democratic” or “street journalism”) –and specially, through social networks- is something we must be aware of. According to the 2003 report “We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information” participatory journalism is the concept of members of the public “playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information". Authors Bowman and Willis say: "The intent of this participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires."

Participatory journalism is changing the balance of power between journalists and their readers –“(...) these techniques are irrevocably changing the nature of journalism, because they’re giving enormous new power to what had been a mostly passive audience in the past”-. Realizing that some means of acknowledgment of this “shift” is needed in order to success as a journalist, Gillmor advocates free communication network as a medium for everyone’s voice. Only by being aware of the alteration of the nature of journalism can this “career” survive. The idea of powerful institutions dominating the production and distribution of news and information is no longer sustainable. Participatory journalism is a reality that is evolving into a shared experience. The roles of storytellers and gatekeepers are being questioned by ordinary citizens that are willing to contribute with their own piece of news. This explains why the blogging phenomenon is affecting the traditional journalistic practices and making us distinctly uncomfortable. The Internet allows everyone to write. Some blogs have bigger audiences than many newspapers and are as influential to the audience as any other journalistic medium. Gillmor states that “If modern American journalism has been a lecture, it’s evolving into something that incorporates a conversation and seminar”. What the author is trying to say is that the lines between producers and consumers are beginning to blur. Nowadays, their roles –both producers and consumers- are changing. Why? As Gillmor puts it “There are new possibilities for everyone in the process: journalist, newsmaker and the active “consumer” of news isn’t satisfied with today’s product –or who wants to make some news, too”

With today’s technology the participatory journalism movement has found new life as the average person can capture news and distribute it globally. Yochai Benkler, author of The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom says that “the capacity to make meaning – to encode and decode humanly meaningful statements – and the capacity to communicate one’s meaning around the world, are held by, or readily available to, at least many hundreds of millions of users around the globe.” If everybody is writing, how can quality journalism survive and thrive in the Internet age? How can we (future journalists) keep our career if the audience is contributing with their own pieces of information?

Information is not journalism. You get a lot of things, when you open up Twitter in the morning, but it does not necessarily match the definition of journalism. Journalism needs discipline, analysis, explanation and context, and therefore to me it is still a profession –I am largely optimistic about that-. Richard Sambrook, the director of the BBC Global News Division, said that “the value that gets added with journalism is judgment, analysis and explanation - and that makes the difference. So journalism will stay. However, journalists must understand one rule: if you believe you are in competition with the internet, find your way out. Collaboration, openness and link culture are rules, you can't deny at the moment. News today still has to be accurate and fair, but it is as important for the readers, listeners and viewers to see how the news is produced, where the information comes from, and how it works. The emergence of news is as important, as the delivering of the news itself. I don’t see the internet as a place where news come from – although Sky News has a Twitter correspondent researching the micro-blogging platform.”

According to Martin Langeveld, author of Building networks around news "Even though the audience's engagement with social networks is growing strongly, news enterprises have been slow to wade into the social networks waters. Publishers (and specially editors) still tend to see themselves as curators of content: selecting, generating, massaging and presenting material for the audience they perceive, but not really networking with that audience except in rudimentary ways like comment forums that are not enormously evolved from the old channel of writing a letter to the editor". Among other things, by building a social network around, news media can stimulate conversations about news, certainly something that will help news media survive and grow. "Social networks built around news can’t happen without journalists who are adept at social networking, themselves".