Journalism students face a constantly shifting industry.
“As somebody who is majoring in journalism and has thought about pursuing a career in journalism, I would say that the fluctuations in the industry are a concern,” said Lauren Warner, a junior multimedia journalism student at Taylor.
With various cultural threats to human news coverage, will students like Warner graduate, only to find their field is obsolete?
For starters, technology has transformed journalism, said Ryan Wilson, an NFL draft reporter.
When Wilson was young, blogging was big. So was “going against the man.” Mainstream outlets were still developing: YouTube was a goofy platform for uploading cat videos.
Today’s news platforms rely heavily on short-form video platforms, he said.
Artificial Intelligence will continue to upend the journalism industry too. It has “definitely put a wrench in things,” and can replace journalists by writing passable stories, Warner said.
Some argue that AI makes journalism easier, Wilson said. There’s certainly a place for it; he uses ChatGPT to write code.
“(Configuring sports statistics) would take me probably — not even exaggerating — 10 times as long (without AI),” he said.
Despite its practicality, many journalists worry AI will replace them. Some outlets already use it to edit or even write entire pieces, said Alex Newman, CEO of Liberty Sentinel.
AI should not write stories, Newman said. It is not real journalism because it does not introduce new information, investigate or conduct interviews, he said. Furthermore, it often relies on “garbage data” like Wikipedia, and it also interprets data through a secular lens, he said.
“(AI engines are) programmed by people who reject the biblical worldview, people who embrace anything from paganism to godlessness to secularism, “ Newman said, “and so by default they’ve got ethical frameworks and guidelines that are very much at odds with the Christian worldview.”
Newman anticipates increasingly AI-generated stories as news budgets dry up and support for local papers drops. It is too convenient for news outlets that are shrinking in both budget and staff size.
News stations struggle to find the funding they once received, said Russ Pulliam, director of the Pulliam Journalism Fellowship at the Indianapolis Star. Foundation grants and fluctuating subscribers cannot sufficiently support local papers.
In response, many outlets retreat to online-only news, which is not as stable as print papers, he said.
Staff are downsizing too. Two-person newsrooms have replaced “the good old days” of 100-reporter newsrooms, Pulliam said. As these publications struggle to keep up with community events, many locals turn to bigger outlets like the New York Times.
To survive these threats, outlets must garner local support or target a niche audience, said David Jesse, a reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education. Medium-sized publications that are not niche, well-established or connected to a community are the most vulnerable. Small papers’ local audiences and large, well-known outlets’ broad reach provide somewhat more stability.
Many citizens don’t care that journalism is dying, Newman said. They assume larger outlets will cover important events, or they feel embittered by biased and/or unethical news outlets.
The largest issue outlets face is public distrust of journalism, NOTUS reporter Ben Mause said. News outlets’ hesitancy to admit past mistakes has fostered this deeply ingrained “snowball of distrust.”
If this hateful attitude does not change, publications will continue polarizing to find an audience, Mause said.
Those hurt by corruption within journalism often fail to realize that much important political, cultural, social and educational news occurs on a local scale. Thus, the loss of local journalism leaves many citizens uninformed, Newman said.
To “keep journalism afloat” amid these threats, reporters must adapt to meet the needs of current generations and work with whichever online platforms they prefer, Jesse said. Currently, this means becoming adept at short-form videos and social media.
Local journalists are beginning to garner audiences through independent news platforms like YourNews, a local journalism model similar to YouTube, and Substack, a self-publication platform. These may help promote local news and empower regional journalists, Newman said.
Journalists should also cultivate timeless skills like writing well and recognizing relevant stories, said Lee Pitts, executive director of WORLD Magazine’s World Journalism Institute.
We at The Echo believe our journalists should not give up on writing. Human writers are the lifeblood of an informed citizenry that holds public corporations accountable. Christian writers can present truth from a biblical angle, whether for a secular or Christian news publication.
Instead of abandoning their career dreams, Taylor’s journalism students must adapt to their culture’s preferred news forms and practice timeless writing skills that make them quality writers.
Aspiring journalists rely on the hope that, though written news may decline, the need for news will not, Wilson said — “at least until the robots take over.”
The outlook is bleak, but people will always need storytellers, Pulliam agreed.
“The hope would lie in the fact that people probably want news now as much, or more, as they ever did,” he said.
