Digital technology causing the quality and economic foundations of journalism to "crumble"

Posted by Lauren Drablier on January 21, 2009 at 10:57 AM

According to a report, What's Happening to Our News?, published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, digital technology is threatening the quality of British journalism.

In addition, the study found that digital journalism is also dampening the commercial prospects for traditional journalism. Dr Andrew Currah, author of the report and Oxford University professor, found that "the economic foundations of modern journalism are crumbling due to unprecedented changes in the scale and character of news consumption."

Currah believes this is due to the free access model for online news, which now limits the resources available for original reporting, journalism.co.uk reports.

Currah also found that the "reliance of news websites on external links for traffic limits the value of news content to advertisers, the profitability of news publishing, and the resources available for professional journalism". This is an interesting point when many are pushing for more "link journalism", when in essence it may be limiting their ability to generate revenue and "distorting news coverage."

According to journalism.co.uk, "supporters of Currah's work have suggested that the consequences of these new practices could have a severe impact on the function of journalism in society."

Source: Journalism.co.uk