Auteur: Sylvie van Nieuwerburgh

Datum: 1-9-2007

Titel: Journalists in a digital age

Abstract: This thesis researches the future functions and practice of journalists. Both are subject to a lot of societal and technological changes. Technology changes to way journalists gather and present their stories and it changes what an audience can do as well as their needs and wants. The public has more power over their media experience and produces content themselves, which challenges the functions of journalists. Moreover, the public is fragmenting. To find an answer to what the future of journalism will be, articles written by or about the thoughts of journalists are analyzed.

Five challenges are noticed, these are the fragmenting of the public, the empowered public, the explosion of blogs, the loss of monopoly of journalists and the trend of free information. In order to cope with these challenges the journalistic practice must involve the public, be transparent over their work, provide specialized information, present their stories with multimedia features and at last, report more immediate. Those actions are classified as the keys of success which reveal something about the future role of journalists.

To what degree a journalist will be what in which situations is still being debated, but it is clear that multimedia features will be indispensable to tell a story, that specialized information is what is needed to compete with blogs and get the scattered attention from the fragmented public and that a journalist will be a guide in this information overloaded society who filters relevant from irrelevant articles.

Scriptiebegeleider: Mark Deuze

Cijfer: 7,5

Instituut: Universiteit Leiden

Email: sylvievn@gmail.com

PDF: http://www.denieuwereporter.nl/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/Scriptie alles versie 2.pdf

Richting: Journalistiek en Nieuwe Media

Website: www.univleiden.nl