Text 3 convergence journalism

Technological changes, such as rise of the Internet, global connections, and wireless communication, have raised expectations about the kind of news people want and the way they want to get it. Reduced pay and transformations in user behavior resulted in the emerging of a new type of journalism to complement traditional media – convergence journalism.

Convergence is the term that describes efforts to use the different strengths of different media to reach broader audiences and tell stories in the new ways. It is a change in the relationship between the people who make the news – journalists – and the people who use it – the public.

Convergence journalism is a new way of thinking about the news, producing the news, and delivering the news, using all media to their fullest potential to reach a diverse audience.

Convergence refocuses journalism to its core mission – to inform the public about its world in the best way possible.

• WATCHING VIDEO 4

Media landscape changes

TASK 18

See what Jeff Greenfield (media critic for CBS ‘Sunday Morning’) thinks about convergence and the changes in the media landscape. Before watching, say what you know about the channels and networks mentioned in the video fragment:

Biggest primetime networks

Cable channels

Social networking sites

After watching, mark the statements as True or False:

1. Media revolution means just more sources of media.

2. The major change is concerned with the way new media are delivered.

3. All the media today are digitized.

4. Previously every kind of information came in a different form.

5. Today every kind of information can be received on the same device.

6. This revolution shifted power from providers to the users of information.

Answer the questions:

1. How has the media landscape changed in recent years?

2. What popular platforms for delivering news and information appeared?

3. What is the difference in the way information was delivered previously and today?

4. Why has convergence become a buzzword today?

5. How have technological advancements influenced the audience - provider relations?

6. What fundamental media rules still apply despite the media revolution?

What positive and negative aspects of convergence in journalism can you name? How has convergence changed contemporary journalism?

TASK 19

What can you say about media convergence in your country? Research the issue and get ready to speak about it in class.

WHAT JOURNALISTS DO

The basic skills required of every journalist haven’t changed despite the revolution in technology. The job of news-gathering and storytelling is still essential in journalism. What else do journalists do to satisfy the audience’s demand for information?

 READING AND DISCUSSING 3

TASK 20

Could you make a list of activities journalists perform on a daily basis as part of their job? Alas, they report and conduct interviews. Complement your list with the help of the following text. Translate the underlined words and expressions into Russian.

Text 4

In modern society, journalists are the chief purveyors* of information and opinion about public affairs. They go to the scene and write or narrate or shoot what is happening. They do months-long investigations and publish stories that hold power accountable. They ask pointed questions of authorities. They read public records and bring obscure but relevant facts to light.

The standard image of a journalist, and one often portrayed in movies, is of someone working a beat* for a newspaper and finding stories.

But journalists do all sorts of other things too. They use their powerful communication channels to bring attention to issues that they didn’t, themselves, first report. They curate and filter the noise of the Internet. They assemble all of the relevant articles in one place. They explain complicated subjects. They liveblog*. They retweet* the revolution. And even in the age of the Internet, there is value to being nothing more than a reliable conduit for bits; just pointing a camera at the news — and keeping it live no matter what — is an important journalistic act.

There’s more. They provide a place for public discussion, or moderate such a place. And even though magazine journalism can be of a very different kind, we still call it journalism. And, of course, there are the data journalists to cope with the huge rise in the availability and value of data.

Adapted from http://mediacareers.about.com/od/mediajobprofiles/a/Journalist.htm

TASK 21

What can you say about the difficulties of a journalist’s job? What skills and qualities essential for a good journalist would you mention? What factors affect journalists’ job? Why not speak about the benefits of this profession? Read the following text to see if you can add more ideas to your answers.