How Has Digital Technology Affected Journalism?

       Digital technology is something that has grown within the past few decades. I can remember when my parents bought me my first cell phone. It was a Virgin Mobile phone that I basically used to play games on because none of my other friends had cell phones. I was about 9 years old. Since then, digital technology has grown immensely. Everyone walks around with a computer in the palm of their hands. We can obtain an enormous amount

Examples of older cell phones that the world
hardly sees anymore thanks to smartphones. 

From: https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/
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information almost instantly. We can talk to and visually see other people when they are in different states and even countries than us through the use of programs like Skype and Facetime. The internet has evolved, as well. It has gone from dial up and DSL to lightening fast internet. We can actually get on the internet while someone is on the house phone. The growth in digital technology has had both positive and negative effects on the world. Positive effects include allowing people to have a plethora of knowledge at their fingertips and easing the way people can communicate with each other. Negative effects include lessening face-to-face communication with other people and creating a world that is completely absorbed with digital technology that we can't go an hour without being on our smartphones. There are the positives and the negatives. We can see how drastically digital technology has affected our everyday world, but how has digital technology affected journalism? 

CNN is a news station that is known
for its reliability and speed when  breaking
news occurs. 

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     One of the most basic ways that digital technology has affected journalism is by how information is being transmitted to the audience. Yes, there are still newspapers and magazines. But, more and more people are reading news articles and breaking news stories on their smartphones and tablet devices. If they are not reading news articles, they are watching news videos from the news station of their liking. Nowadays, there are plenty of news stations to choose from. They all, for the most part, report the same stories, but everyone has a favorite. A few years ago, people had to wait until they got home to watch the evening news on their television at 6 o'clock every night. Now, you can watch and read the news at any time of the day. People can read news written by journalists the second they post it online. There are news apps that will alert your phone when a new story is posted. 

Tablets are one of the newest digital technologies
that people are using for news. 

From: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia
/commons/7/74/Zinglife_10%22_Android_Tablet.jpg

Because it is so easy to obtain the news, younger people are starting to read it as well. I know personally, if I did not have the CNN app or my "news" app on my Iphone that I would not be in touch with any type of news except for celebrity news. Before I kept up on the news with my apps, I would let my friends on Facebook alert me of what was the most important stories of the day. Online blogs, news website, and apps have allowed news stations and journalists to update their audiences with news every second of the day. New digital technology has allowed people to receive news at a faster and more convenient pace. 

Email is one way that journalists can obtain information
for their stories. 

From: https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/
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     Another way digital technology has affected journalism is by how journalists can obtain their information. Before social media and the internet were popular outlets for journalism, journalists were forced to get their information from other sources. They had to go directly to the source and interview them or call them on the phone. They could send letters or go to secondary sources. While it is true that journalists still use these approaches to create their news stories, today they are able to use obtain their information in many other ways. 

Are journalists invading people's privacy now
more than ever?

From: https://c2.staticflickr.com/8
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Journalists can use private emails, Facebook pages, Twitter and Instagram accounts, and even voicemails to gain the information needed to complete and verify their stories. Because of all of this new digital technology, it raises the question of whether journalists are invading people's privacy. Is using personal and private emails to verify information for a story invasion of privacy? The growth of new digital technology has raised more critical questions for journalists here in the United States. New digital technology has opened new doors for journalists, but it has created new problems as well. 

Citizen journalism has taken the world
by storm and cut into the world of professional
journalism. 

From: https://farm1.staticflickr.com/
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     Digital technology has created a whole new type of journalism in its wake. This type of journalism is called "citizen journalism". Citizen journalism is exactly what it sounds like, normal, everyday citizens becoming journalists. They are not going to school like a profession journalist does, but they do obtain unbiased information and report it to the public. Normal, everyday people can get to places that journalist may or can not. Normal people can use their cell phones to create stories of breaking news that they just experienced. Sometimes, it is the everyday person that reports a news story before the journalist does. Digital technology has allowed people to become the unprofessional journalist and create stories that people want to read. When people read citizen journalism, it is taking away from the professional journalism. Although citizen journalists do not have schooling or professional training, some audiences might prefer the citizen journalist over a professional one. Again, digital technology has made a huge impact on the world of journalism today.

     All-in-all, in my opinion, digital technology has helped journalism more than it has hurt it. Digital technology has opened more doors for journalists to get their stories to their audiences at a faster pace. People are more interested in the news now more than ever. As digital technology becomes more and more advanced, we should see an advancements in journalism as well. Journalism cannot thrive without digital technology nowadays. As long as people are interested, journalism through digital technology will live a long and prosperous life.