Future Journalism

Many information are posted on the Internet for people to read. Newspaper publishing companies has turned online as well. Many younger generations are getting the information of the world on the Internet. Reading of the latest news on the Internet is not new now. This trend is putting many newspaper companies on red alert because ordinary people can report the lastest news, and put it on their blog. The introduction of blog has allow everyone and anyone to become a citizen journalist. Therefore, the traditional medium companies cutting their editorial staffs or asking reporters to become "backpack journalists" who can do everything -- shoot video, take photographs, write stories. The freedom of speech online has not create gatekeepers to verify the truths of the reportings done by citizen journalists. This would have the question of " Do we still need trained journalist?" Columbia University's Sreenivasan has mentioned that we still need journalists who are trained to report on the wars, the politics, etc. This is because citizen journalists write only whatever they wanted.
I came across the video on 2007 New Yorker conference about The Web:2012 (http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/conference/2007/web2012). I find it is a good video as it talks about the future of commerce, journalism, and community on the Internet, featuring Barry Diller, Arianna Huffington, and Craig Newmark. The founder of Huffington post, Arianna Huffington talks about the changes in the world of journalism in 2012. She said that the news would be in real time, and citizen journalists together with mainstream journalists would worked together to provide the news coverage. Criag Newmark has also mentioned in the video that citizen journalist who have accuracy may be better than professional journalists in the future. Arianna feels that the future of news would be taken over by citizen journalists. The reason for this is because headline news would be updated constantly by them causing newspaper publishers follow as well. It is also believe that news would be more transparent and accurate.

References:
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/57193.html
http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/conference/2007/web2012
http://www.helium.com/items/511212-triumph-waiting-digital-journalismone