Online: a ‘new’ journalism, content and the rule of the search engine

The Internet and it's influence on journalism is something that I think has come up in many discussions throughout the semester.

Technology appears to be unstoppable and the "focus of any consideration becomes dealing with the impact and effect of the technology, adjusting to life in the new age, or moving on to the next stage" (Tapsall in set text, Chapter 15; 239).
Therefore journalists and news organisations are challenged to cope with and in this digital media age as they can no longer ignore on-line, virtual and converged media forms.

Tapsall goes onto say that, “those who fail to accept, adopt, and implement the technological advances available to them – such as new converged electronic forms of news-gathering and publication – are viewed as Luddites, attempting to stand in the path of progress” (Tapsall, 2008: 241).

The role of the journalist is definitely changing because of this, and in turn the definition of what journalist is, is also changing.

“It is…clear that journalists who will cope best in the future, and be the most employable, will be those who are multiskilled – capable of working in more that one medium and using a digital camera as well as a notebook and sound recorder” (Conley and Lamble, 2006: 72). THis is something that has also been drilled into us at university, that to make it in this industry we must be a 'jack of all trades' being able to cope and produce in any or all mediums.