In an era of digital media, misinformation, and political polarization, the journalism industry faces unprecedented challenges.
January 18, 2021 at 11:06 am EDT
Written by Sarah Chu
The news landscape, which used to be characterized by a set of traditional media agencies reporting news to the public, has been severely disrupted by a diverse set of challenges. From the continued demand for online media to the political divide on social media, here are five key takeaways of the future of journalism.
1. A Collapse in Local Newspapers
Since the first half of the 20th century, founders of iconic news outlets, The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, dominated the news industry. They were succeeded by corporate newspapers in the latter half of the century, and have since been owned by private companies and investors. Today, industry concentration has worsened. Most notably, in 2019, New Media Investment Group acquired Gannett, the owner of USA Today, to become the nation’s largest newspaper publisher in a $1.4 billion deal. Together, the media powerhouse owns nearly 700 papers, a readership which controls almost 9 million readers.
The consolidation of the media industry — most of which are owned by investors — presents an extraordinary challenge for local news organizations. An investor’s main goal is to maximize profits and shareholder value, not report unbiased stories to the public. Therefore, an investor’s actions may not always be in the best interest of the American people. A detailed history of the conglomeration of the news industry can be found here.
2. Social Media Giants Will Continue to Stomp on the News Industry
The financial bedrock that once supported local newspapers — relying on subscribers and advertising revenue — is no longer viable due to the monopolistic tendencies of Big Tech behemoths reaping much of the ad revenue that once went to local news outlets. Between 2008 and 2018, the newspaper industry experienced a 68 percent drop in advertising revenue. The most obvious reason for the decline is the stronghold social media has on society.
Younger generations like Gen Z and millennials rely on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to find newsworthy updates. The percentage of Gen Z and millennials who reported they saw news on a social media was 39 percent in 2012, with just 29 percent having read a newspaper in print or digital form. Today, 57 percent of young people will turn to social media as their first point of contact for news consumption, with only 4 percent of young people reading a printed newspaper. The steadfast decline in traditional news agencies leave little opportunity to capture revenue generating advertisements from social media giants.
3. Misinformation Will Continue to Propagate on Social Media
In addition to covering the existential crisis of Covid-19, journalists fight the pandemic of misinformation on social networking platforms. While traditional news agencies serve to inform the public, social media platforms instead use algorithms to highlight certain stories in a newsfeed, which are not always factual. For example, a 2018 study conducted by MIT scholars found that fake stories are 70 percent more likely to be retweeted than true stories are. Their findings suggest that fake news is more trend worthy than unpalatable news sources, which makes misinformation more likely to spread across the platform. This trend becomes increasingly dangerous in wake of the coronavirus pandemic, as people look for legitimate sources for vaccine information.
4. Political Polarization is Here to Stay
The aftermath of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election as demonstrated by the violent insurrection at the Capitol by pro-Trump supporters have shown us that partisan viewership in media outlets is here to stay. A study conducted last January found that Democrats and Republicans place their trust on inverse news outlets. Republicans, who prefer Republican-leading channels like Fox News and Hannity News, viewed sources outside of the Republican media sphere as untrustworthy. Meanwhile, Democrats, who prefer Democratic-leaning channels like CNN and ABC News, viewed the opposite, placing their trust in these news sources. This evidence suggests that partisan polarization will widen, as people will continue to filter through information that reinforces their personal beliefs. With no single source of truth, this system makes non-partisan reporting even more difficult to be portrayed as unbiased.
5. New Modes of Storytelling is Emerging
The proliferation of modern technology has also forced journalists to adopt new ways of storytelling. In recent years, journalists have utilized technological advancements to tell stories through virtual reality, 360-degree pictures, and fully-integrated user experiences. For example, The New York Times published The Daily 360 in 2016, a series of immersive videos that puts readers at the center of a news story. Similarly, Times released an interactive map last March that tracks the spread of the coronavirus around the world. The adoption to new methodologies have become increasingly apparent, as more readers shift toward technology-oriented news sources.
Journalism is the heart of a democracy. In an ideal world, reporters build bridges between communities and news outlets, covering real-time stories in exchange for public trust in the news industry. The bridges of trust, however, have crumbled. The ongoing threats of industry concentration, misinformation, political polarization, and technological advancements have challenged the most enduring business models. If the news industry wants any chance of survival, journalists need to find new and innovative ways to inform the public. It is crucial that the media collaborates with communities to reflect the diverse experiences of the American people. Democracy prevails only when stories across the political, economic, and cultural spectrum are covered in a fair, unbiased manner.