THE IMPACTS OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES ON OUR INFORMATION AGE
(…raising questions about…whither journalism now?)

The recent sale of print-media icons like the –Washington Post – and the –LA Times – etc., demonstrates the impacts of new technologies on our information age…and raises questions about…whither journalism now? While it may be difficult to assess how these corporate changeovers have anything to do with that question (these being mostly driven by economic and cost considerations), they still reflect the profession’s transition from its former way of how its content is produced and distributed. Regardless of all that, however, we should neither confuse nor equate such technological changes with it.

Journalism operates from and by certain fundamentals, which remain largely constant, regardless of the technologies involved (either by goose quill or with digital mediums). Of those constants the most fundamental one is…thought…either from the reporting or the editing end of its spectrum, to produce content more involved than just the bare facts of who, what, where, and when, but also with the more nuanced aspects of the how…and why.

Of course, that long-running print matrix for doing it has also pre-supposed that there was a thought-conditioned audience at the output end of it. An audience with an attention span of sufficient length to react to the stimulus of having to -read- printed matter. Thus the unease which seems to hang over the practitioners of journalism today appears to derive from their perceptions that such stimuli no longer apply, and that the advent of new technological means of producing and distributing their output has shifted their former audience to interact mostly with – visually-based – stimuli instead.

In short, journalism’s “audience” has become attuned to a shorter attention span requirement because new technologies now allow it be “entertained” by these through the medium of a wide array of digital toys, using insta-news, and gossip platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, etc., literally at its fingertips. It’s a matrix which emphasizes …viewing   over…thought (except perhaps in a very superficial way), because visual stimuli require much shorter attention spans than that required by…thought…for reading.

In short, the question really boils down to this: Can journalism as we know it today survive in such a digital and visually oriented world? At the moment it’s too early to tell; but, the fact that someone of Mr. Bezos’ character and caliber has chosen to take on that challenge is an encouraging sign.

If anyone can figure out how to meld the best of both of these worlds into a new model hybrid matrix for it…he probably can.

CENTURION