Since the advent of the internet, the world has changed, and the media industry wasn’t left out. The way news is disseminated and consumed has drastically changed as we’ve moved from print to radio to television and the internet.
For the traditional mass media, adapting to change has been formidable as these industries have lost relevance with the increasing popularity of social media. visit here
Consumers now have different expectations as technology and online platforms have made access to content more accessible and quicker.
But the effect doesn’t stop there. Here are four more ways the media has changed over time:
Table of Contents
1. Media Consumption
Historically, there were only a few ways to get news, and they were all specialized – print publications, radio, and television. But over the past decades, people don’t need to rely on the traditional media for information.
A plethora of platforms, courtesy of the internet, means that they can now get news anytime and from any location.
Email, social media, instant messaging applications like Whatsapp or Telegram, or even SMS – news is now hyper-accessible and available instantly.
Users can also customize what they receive by filtering what they receive and not having to follow topics they don’t find interesting.
2. Inaccurate Reporting
Today, there are many sources of getting the information you need. Access to technology also means anyone can go online and publish anything to suit their agenda.
All it takes is the content getting enough engagement to go viral, and search engines will rank it as high as they can for the keywords used.
In some cases, fake news can influence opinions and actions by tweaking facts to suit their narrative without being fact-checked or compared to other reports.
Inaccurate reporting remains a challenge in the modern era, as this article explains, so it’s crucial to be vigilant when consuming information online and always get a second opinion before believing everything you hear or read.
3. New Opinion Leaders
Gone are the days of the editor, the anchor, and the reporter who people trust.
Anyone with a massive following (celebrities, influencers, etc.) on social media can be an opinion leader today. Without going through proper channels to get accredited to speak on a topic (or, as one might say, “newsjacking“), they can spread misinformation with their disproportionate influence.
As much as this can be seen as bad, it can also bring positive impacts as these new opinion leaders can bring in fresh perspectives that traditional media may not be able to deliver.
4. The Urge to Publish
Three CNN journalists resigned following the retractions of a Russia-related article published in 2017, including the executive editor.
Reuters reported that Congress was investigating a “Russian investment fund connected to Trump officials,” citing an anonymous source.
Typically, CNN’s fact-checkers, journalism standards experts, and lawyers review these types of stories before publication.
CNN executives were disturbed to discover this breakdown in editorial workflow. As a result, the story was deleted from CNN.com and replaced with an editorial note and apologies.
In the era of high-speed internet and social media, the urge to publish news stories is symptomatic of the rise of online information. It is a contributing factor to the problem of major news outlets publishing fake stories.
Several reasons contribute to the publication of false stories. Sometimes, a newsroom wants to be the first to report a story about a sensational event. In other cases, journalists covering a story lose control of their better judgment after getting carried away by a social media controversy.
Any time a story has to be withdrawn for these reasons, it’s embarrassing for a news outlet.
The Bottom Line
Over the years, the internet has had an enormous impact on the media. It changed how people consume media and how media organizations do business and make money.
The proliferation of fake news and inaccurate reporting has negatively affected the traditional media industry.
But the internet is here to stay, so the onus is on the traditional mass media to embrace it and shape its evolution to minimize the damage it can do to society.