The Future of Journalism in America
Maritza Cosano Gomez
May 27, 2009
Filed under Commentary, Editorial
The CCA Weekly staff celebrates a good season.
We tend to think that history is written in stone, that it’s unchanging, absolute, fixed. But in reality, history is more than that; it’s a continuing dialogue between the past and the present. And it’s fair to say that what you ultimately get from that tête-à-tête is, hopefully, a well planned future.
Such is the case with journalism.
Let’s face it; journalism is changing, and it’s taking notes from the past and the present and building what many scholars are calling the journalism of the future—journalism multimedia. At universities across the country, journalism professors are hustling to figure out how to teach journalism at a time when the field is undergoing a sweeping transformation. The American Journalism Review estimates that 15 percent of the nation’s newspaper newsroom jobs were lost in 2008 as news consumers continued to gravitate to online sources and as traditional revenue streams dried up; so far this year, we have seen a great number of major newspapers that have closed down their presses altogether.
The shift from a print-based to a digital is changing how journalists do their jobs, requiring a “new media” mentality, a new vocabulary, even a new relationship with the audience—one that talks back! Sometimes to give a simple comment, other times to offer a critique or a fresh perspective on the subject.
Just this year, our journalism class, which produces The CCA Weekly, went through that very transformation and the outcome was The Messenger, CCA’s first online high school newspaper. The changes are also forcing us, along with all the other journalism classes around the country, to rethink what a journalism education should look like. What are the skills necessary? What are the implications for the craft of journalism in the shift to digital? And how do you prepare students for an uncertain future in the media? Perhaps the perfect solution has not been found, but I am convinced that the answer will come from this next generation of journalists. They are not just writers, but photographers, graphic designers, videographers, and blog experts…
I see a sea of change in journalism and innovation is a big part of that. And I encourage every young person at CCA to hone their journalistic skills by covering the CCA news beat. You don’t need to be part of a class or club to do that. I hope you have enjoyed our band of reporters, who have immersed themselves in covering CCA’s news beat with such diligence and professionalism. I hope you will too, and that their example of fine journalism will not only help you better understand the past and present of CCA, but also prompt you to help build its
future, and the future of journalism in America.
Grace & Peace,
Maritza Cosano Gomez
Editor-in-Chief
Comments and letters to the editor may be sent to:
maritzacg@calvaryftl.org.