How the range and value of news have been influenced by technological advances in news production Essay

Introduction

Since the fourteenth century when Johann Gutenberg invented printing, the media has gone through several technological leaps. The media world is one of the industries that rely very heavily on technology. The last one hundred years has seen the greatest advancement in technological and massive changes, with regard to, the production of news and media contents (Gurevitch, 1991).

This essay will evaluate how much technological changes in news production have affected the value of news. It will begin by giving a historical overview of the various technological milestones that have holistically transformed the media industry.

Then, the paper will present the state of media production in the contemporary society and how the advancement of technology has affected the value of news. The paper also presents a conclusion, which summarizes the various ideas discussed on the topic.

Discussion

The merriam-Webster defines news as a just recently obtained significant information about the latest important event(s) that is either broadcasted or published for public consumption. The use of the term ‘news’ to denote newly acquired important information began after the fourteenth century.

The dissemination of written documents for public consumption was less existent a part from a few examples, such as Egypt whose Pharaohs designed organized courier systems to distribute written information throughout the Kingdom. This was around 2400 BC.

However, most governments, during that time posted important information in public places, or in used town carriers. For instance, Julius Caesar of the ancient Rome dispersed information to the public by curving them on stone or metal before, posting them in public places (Tsagarousianou et al., 1998).

The Print Media

Johannes Gutenberg is credited as the founder of mass production of printed materials in the 1450s. Driven by the need for the production of cheap written documents, the goldsmith from the town of Mainz in Germany developed a printing technology.

Through the technology, Guteberg produced about three hundred Latin Bibles, later referred to as Gutenberg Bibles. Since then, the production of printed materials took a dramatic shift, with press companies cropping up in every city. Nevertheless, it slightly more than a hundred years before the production of newspapers became a reality (Livingstone, 2005).

After 1800, and due to the major improvements made on Gutenberg’s invention, the presses were characterized by better quality and high speed production. The printing presses improved the level of automation. The automation process ensured that, with time, fewer people would be required to operate the machines.

The printing technology made quantum leaps. One such benefit was with the high quality color printing that included the use of four color prints. The most noticeable advances came in with the computer technology that saw the quality and speed of production hit the highest record. The presses are now controlled by computers, through which custom setting can be done either on place or remotely (Holmes, 1997).

The computer era has brought about the capacity to transmit newspapers by fax using technologies like facsimile. This technology reduced the need for the technique of photocomposing, which was tedious, and replaced it with super speed kilobytes. As a result, the production of newspaper or any print media can now be done in minutes (Livingstone, 2005.)

The emergence of personal computers has entirely transformed the printing process. Currently desktop printing is a reality. This has reduced the cost of printing tremendously, and contributed to the explosion of printed materials throughout the world.

While earlier printing was a reserve of the printing presses that charged exorbitant prices for the printing of materials, it is currently possible to print materials right from the comfort of one’s own home (Livingstone, 2005). Furthermore, the quality of these printouts rival that of the large prints. This is due to the availability of typesetting software that ensures a high quality print.

Programs such as CorelDraw and Photoshop are used to improve the quality of photographs, and provide endless platforms for creation of designs. In fact, both high end printings and low level printing make use of personal computers in creating their designs.

The main difference exists in terms of the number and nature of personal computers used. High end printers require many personal computers networked together with faster processors, as well as larger disk spaces as compared to the home computers (Miller, 1988).

Photography

Photography was once a powerful tool which provides the journalist with great possibilities. The first photograph ever taken was in 1826, by Niepce Joseph. Photography which was a product of both science and art underwent several changes. Nonetheless, the invention of photography led to the coining of the word photojournalism.

Photojournalism began around 1925, after the invention of the 35mm camera called the Leica. The camera was a replacement of bulky equipment that was used to produce high quality images. The Leica used excess films shot in the 35mm format. The camera allowed for a kind of flexibility that had never been seen before to be seen.

Through it, the photographer was able to take natural scenes, and for the first time take photos of people in their natural status, and as they went about with their daily lives. This was followed shortly by the photojournalism magazine.

The first photojournalism happened in Germany after World War II, but its chance of success was drowned by Hitler’s persecution. In the United States, the first magazine that made use of photojournalism was called life (Murphy, 1994).

The magazine, by Henry Luce, played a very important role during the Second World War. Compared to the newspapers at the time, and which produced controlled pictures, the life magazine provided the most credible images of the war. The magazine revealed the real situation at the battle fronts, since the journalist using the 35mm camera could take images very fast.

Another camera mainly used by the newspaper companies was the camera from Graflex Camera Company, which produced both the Speed graphic and the crown graphic. The two huge hand held cameras made use of sheet film. They had a holder at the back that was used and closed after every exposure.

Their rangefinder was crude, while the focus was burdensome. Nevertheless, they proved very effective in the production of high quality negatives that could be used to produce positive images.

The use of cameras in journalism gained momentum during the war, and when the world relied heavily on the still images from daring journalists to understand what was going on. Furthermore, photojournalists during that era became rich and famous, after selling some of their images. The prominence of photography was diluted when the use of graphics was introduced to enhance the appeal of the big story.

For instance, contrary to the previous days when pictures were used to tell the story, the introduction of graphics meant that more words and fewer pictures were to be used. Graphics were manipulated to enhance the big stories or cover page of newspapers.

The last five decades saw an unprecedented advancement in photographic technology. Gone no are the days of film cameras, since digital cameras are already operational. The current technology has brought various positive qualities to photojournalism. Such qualities include high definition images, quicker and easier time taken to process and place the image for printing.

Furthermore, images can now be sent from remote locations in real-time to the media houses through the internet or mobile phones. The current digital camera can effectively perform the functions of focusing and exposure, determine the finest aperture and shutter speed in any environment without the use of flash. Most importantly, the camera can do this independent of man.

On the other hand, photography has also suffered various set backs. These setbacks have as a result, greatly affected the value and quality of news or information presented by the images. The saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” is losing meaning with the current level of photojournalism. Computer manipulation is the main cause of this distrust in digital images.

Through the use of computers, one is always able to manipulate an image in whichever way they see fit. For example, through the picture editor, one can change the color of the images (Scott, 2005). In addition, using the current technology, it is possible to edit various portions of the image as desired.

This includes changing the background of the image, adding or removing some components. As a result, the credibility of photographs now depends on the credibility of the media house, and that of the printed words.

Additionally, the extent to which pictures are manipulated raises ethical concerns. For instance, the decision to determine which part of the image is to be altered, whether a disturbing image should be published as it is or whether it should be edited out.

It is difficult to draw the line between how much can be edited from the image, and how much cannot. The possibilities in altering an image are limitless, hence, it is easier to damage or improve the image.

Broadcast journalism

Broadcast was a term used by the radio engineers to mean the dispersal of radio signals. Initially, all broadcasting occurred through analog signals and was analogously transmitted. However, the advancement in technology has seen the change from analog to digital signals.

News production in the earlier days took several days or weeks because the sense of urgency or immediacy was not achievable using the technology available then. From the early 1930s, news production for broadcasting was not fully developed, while news delivery was very untimely (Thussu, 1998).

Commercial broadcasting in radio and television began in the early 1920s and 1930s respectively. For several decades, the impact of broadcast journalism was largely unnoticed. Television news consisted of still pictures and maps, while television scripts sounded like radio. The use of tape for recording, in place of film, began in 1970. The first camcorder was used in the early 1980s.

These advances in technology slowly began transforming the nature of news broadcasting (Livingstone & Bennet, 2003). For instance, delays were eliminated by the capability to send images electronically back to the studio.

Besides, equipment such as cameras and editing tools could be transported easily through the use of vans that were custom made for the stations. These vans were also fitted with microwave transmission systems that allowed journalists to explore further away from the studio.

The advancement also marked the introduction of live reporting from remote locations. Indeed, some stations mounted serious campaigns, such as the use of helicopters, to relay live feeds from remote locations, such as during a police car chase.

This enabled reporters to relay events in remote locations, thousands of miles away from the studio. As a result, reporters were, and still are, frequently seen reporting from various scenes all around the world, for example, during the war in Afghanistan.

While initially international reporting was hampered by heavy and cumbersome technology that were also expensive, technology has seen the introduction of much smaller, mobile transmission equipment that have totally transformed international broadcasting.

For instance, by 1999, major news network companies like CNN had started using videophones which consist of a camera, digital compression unit and a satellite phone (Livingstone& Bennet, 2003).

International reporting of live events gives the reporters the freedom to decide on the news content. They learn to adapt to the changing story and formulate a way to relay it to the viewers.

This kind of news is devoid of manipulation by the studio because, as a live feed, the studio does not have time to edit the contents. Therefore, these reporters are empowered to freely determine for themselves the content of news and the manner of reporting.

On the other hand, the triumph of international reporting has had tremendous effects on local news reporting. Reports from CNN show that, international news has overshadowed local and institutional reporting, with the latter recording significance decrease. Nevertheless, the use of official sources is prevalent in both the international and local news.

Whenever officials are contacted as sources in an event driven news and on an instant occurrence that is unplanned, it is the duty of the officials to attempt to gain control of the unplanned situation. Their main objective should be to influence the storyline.

The use of official sources, therefore, has a direct impact on the value of the news. For instance, during the 9/11 disaster, various officials attempted to influence the way the news reported the incidence, with an aim of manipulating the information given to the public to suit their self interests.

The internet

Livingstone defines the internet as a distributed global communications network mediate, interconnected by the conjunction of computers and telecommunications. The central infrastructure of the internet has not changed much. However, the speed, content, and scale have vastly increased. It has successfully become a very integral part of the human society.

The first World Wide Web was released in 1991 and was followed by the listing of 1400 news publications online. The internet has affected journalism in two major ways. Firstly, it has created a new form of infrastructure for journalists and overall news production.

Internet provides sources through searchable databases and news sources, hence, it is now easier to research on a particular topic(s) through the internet as compared to when journalist had to go out to pursue different sources (Murphy, 1994). This has brought with it new opportunities and challenges to news production.

The internet has enabled journalists to access sources and experts much easily through the use of emails, with the most recent one being through, video conferencing.

Video conferencing that utilizes VoIP (Voice over internet protocol) allows audio and visual communication between two people separated by geographical barriers. In fact, it is a common site in the current news interviews to witness video conferencing as news anchors engage experts from different parts of the world in discussing a variety of topics (Holmes, 1997).

A part from the obvious advantages such as ease of access and speedy production, journalists feel threatened by the massive presence of the internet. Deuze in his research found out that, the internet is a threat to journalists, who are confronted by new technology that they are required to learn to use very fast. Furthermore, the internet provides a sense of immediacy.

As a result, the journalists always race against time to beat deadlines in the production of news. Additionally, they have to check their mails and reply to them, as well as post articles both to the editors and to the blogs. This is an additional labor on them, and that takes a considerable amount of their time.

This affects the time allocated for news gathering in the fields, as the journalists are not well motivated to look for primary sources when they can easily find secondary ones in the internet (Koch, 1991).

Secondly, internet can be viewed purely as the creator of a new form of news production called online journalism. Scholars have categorized online journalism with print, television or radio (Deuze, 2003).

The web content is composed of banners, research papers, blogs chartrooms, still and moving images that are edited and produced by journalists. Contrary to other forms of journalism that adheres to formal barriers between the media and the audience, online journalism encourages a point-to-point communication whereby, the public can freely communicate by commenting on the news articles without a formal barrier of entry.

One major characteristic of online journalism is dialogical journalism (Livingstone, 2005). This is the production of news that is intended to promote public debate. The public is allowed to contribute towards a news item. It also gets a chance to submit information that will contribute to news production.

The media house, therefore, does more than just produce timely news. Other functions include facilitating the public to share their views with each other through posted comments.

There are two forms of communication platforms; open sites and closed communication. Open sites allows sharing of comments by users without moderation or filtering. Here, users can comment in anyway or upload anything without intervention by the media organization.

Closed communication allows participation, but under strict observation and editing from the media house. Comments deemed unnecessary or insulting are not posted. The main advantage of closed communication is that, it enhances the relevance of the comments to the topic under discussion.

There are four different types of online journalism:

mainstream news site: This is a type of news media production that offers selected editorial content and allows filtered participatory communication (Growing, 1994). The content is produced specifically for the web and linked to search engines. Examples of this type of online journalism include college and university sites.

Index and category sites: These are attributed to search engines like Yahoo or Google, research firms, agencies and individuals. They are characterized by the creation of hyperlinks to other websites. Unfortunately, they do not offer credible editorial content but allow chatting, and posting of advertisements.

Web blogging falls into this category and includes individual journalism. A web blog is more often a personal online account of daily living and issues that they encounter online. Readers can comment on the stories posted on the blog and follow the links provided to similar sites.

Meta and comment sites: These deal with the media issues. As Meta sites, they provide an alternative voice to the media often through criticism. The journalists produce editorial content that purely deals with various aspects of the media.

As a tool of self reflection for the media, the internet in this respect has contributed to the advancement of professional journalism. Internet has also provided a fare ground for the high end news media houses such as CNN and BBC, as well as the low end alternative media sites.

The alternative media sites: These not only provide online editorial news content, but also provide a critical analysis of various news contents from major news sites. As a result, they provide a different perspective of news neglected by the mainstream media.

Moreover, they allow individuals to comment on news from all over the web. Individuals can also contribute their own stories with a higher chance of publishing (Hacker& van Dijk, 2000).

The major function of the online journalism is to provide information to the people, so as to ensure that they are free and self-governed. The implication on the traditional mainstream media is that, there is a need to re-strategize.

The evolving audience is increasingly turning to the internet as the major source of news and entertainment. As a result, and to avoid becoming obsolete, many television and radio stations are now available online.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, technology has forever changed media and journalism. The past years have seen technology advance and change the production of news and media contents. News production is not only faster, but it is also more authentic, while news reporting occurs in real-time. International broadcasting is now more flexible giving the viewer the opportunity to access any part of the world.

Additionally, journalism, through the use of technological advancements, has significantly improved with regard to speed, quality and coverage. On the other hand, news is now much more open to manipulation, right from scripts that are edited by the media houses, to still and moving images.

Furthermore, politics of the land always try to control and manage story lines, so as to provide the public with “what is appropriate” and not what is real. The roller- costar that is the internet technology is springs up various ethical issues that need to be checked thoroughly.

If left unchecked the internet may be the undoing of journalism as a profession. More studies need to be done to address the value of the content, against the efficiency of the current technology.

References

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