National Institute of Mass Communication & Journalism, Ahmedabad
( Affiliated by Gujarat University )
( Affiliated by Gujarat University )
Journalism has revolutionized in the past decade with the increasing use of the internet. If we talk only about India, there are 500 million internet users. Thus, slowly and steadily digital journalism is taking over traditional journalism.
Journalism using old-school methods and mediums is called traditional journalism. For example, daily and midday newspapers, weekly magazines, etc. are mediums of this type of journalism.
Digital journalism, also known as online journalism, is the modern approach of journalism. Instead of using traditional mediums, journalists use digital platforms to relay news such as e-newspaper, websites, blogs, etc.
To understand how digital journalism is taking over traditional journalism, it is necessary to understand the difference between both, so let’s begin:
Due to the increasing shortness of time, people are forgetting their habit of reading the daily newspaper with a hot cup of tea or coffee in the morning. Instead of that, this time shortness gave a boost to digital journalism as people can screen the headlines on the way or whenever they get time.
Another contributor to the increasing popularity of online journalism is increased usage of the internet, mobile devices, and other smart devices. 79% of people use mobile devices for surfing and these audiences are targeted by journalists to increase the use of digital journalism.
Unlike traditional journalism, in which the news gets covered at a specific interval, in its counterpart, the news is published in real-time. As soon as something happens, it gets covered on online news sites. If not, the news editors are left behind as people start discussing it on Twitter and similar social media platforms.
Digital journalists relay news on the internet. Thus, they are dependent on web traffic. Thus, journalists and editors need to focus on keywords and other SEO factors. Unlike this, traditional journalists cover facts in the way they find it more preferable. Journalists do not need to think about SEO factors.
As mentioned earlier, people are heavily using mobile devices for browsing and surfing. Thus, digital journalists need to focus on catering to customers who are using small screens. Thus, they have to write captivating titles as well as they need to make sure the story is concise and covered completely. On the other hand, traditional journalists have freedom of writing. In fact, they usually cover the story with complete detail.
Traditional journalism is limited to certain geographical areas. However, there are no terrestrial restrictions on online journalism. It can reach all people around the globe.
Why is digital journalism overpowering traditional journalism?
Clearly due to its characteristic of being:
Rapid
Relevant
Easily accessible and
Cost-effective
If after some years, you see newspapers are no longer in use, there would not be any surprise. In fact, the era of digital journalism has started replacing traditional journalism at rapid speed.
11 Sep 2020
Post by : NIMCJ