I remember a stand up show where a comedian called Pete Holmes was lamenting the spread of iPhone and the internet, saying "You don't know something? WAIT. 2 SECONDS. YOU WILL KNOW."
On reading that back, the comedy is in the delivery, but the fact remains the same. The global ubiquity of digital technology has made information easier to get than a cup of coffee. Type anything you want into a search bar and instantly, it is presented. While the debate rages on whether this actually makes us "smarter" or not, there's no doubt we certainly have access to more knowledge than any time before in human history.
Which puts journalism in a special place.
Given that journalism is often associated with delivering information and the truth to the masses and providing a check on governments and the inner workings of society, the internet has provided a virtual smorgasbord of material for use.
In her presentation given to the CMNS3420 class this past Wednesday, Emily O'Brien presented a snippet of an analysis of data journalism done by Stamford University, and her conclusion on the topic may have summed up the shifting nature of journalism under the weight of all this new information.
She wrote:
"[By] Utilizing data the journalists’ role shifts from being the first to break a story, to telling the audience what exactly a certain development might mean."
Instead of fulfilling the role as a first come-first serve responder to a story, (a role in which they are fiercely outmatched by on-location citizens with camera phones) journalists are instead changing their role to that of an in-depth researcher that can use the resources at their disposal to tell the story in a deeper, more meaningful way.
While not all journalists employed by papers could devote their time to this, it is a new and exciting way to report on stories previously impossible to cover, and bodes well for the future of journalism.
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