The decline of traditional news media: not Millennials' fault
Photo courtesy of MFE / Michael Taus
There is no denying that traditional forms of mass media – news sources such as print newspapers and broadcast television, in particular – have been declining in readership and viewership in the digital information era. A recent American Press Institute study on connection technology (2015) goes so far as to claim that social media networks are the new and preferred pathways to news for the generation born between 1982 and 2002, coined as “Millennials.”
Most views on the trajectory of traditional media have been pessimistic and accusatory in nature, citing Millennials as the harbingers of doom for journalists, but I contend that the digital revolution and the rise of social media connection technology is merely the next stage in the evolution of newsgathering and news reporting, and those who are or who want to be the storytellers and scribes of this era must adapt to the new norm or perish.
Evolve or die. There is no going back.
Social media and mobile technology as sources of news are simply the next stage in the evolution of reporting and storytelling. Is the quality of journalism diminished because of the new platform? Only if you choose to think of it that way and refuse to look for new opportunities to engage with your readers to get them more involved with the story.
Too often we see the traditional patriarchs of the news industry casting blame upon the youth of today for wrecking the quality and institutional values of reporting, but that is an unproductive and shortsighted argument. As Amy Mitchell, director of journalism research for the Pew Research Center, puts it: “Thinking about the way people use the digital space [and] thinking about the way content functions in the digital space has been a challenge for the news industry because that’s not what they’re grounded in” (Saperstein, 2014).
Did horse owners blame Henry Ford for making a faster form of transportation? Did information technology and computer science specialists blame Bill Gates or Steve Jobs for revolutionizing data storage and computing? What I am getting at here is that we have always been a society that strives to improve and advance our culture, our economy, and our way of life. Why would our sources of news and information be any different?
As Danielle Inez puts it: “No generation can be faulted for an industry’s slow adoption of technology or its repeatedly missed opportunities to be at the forefront of innovation. Products evolve. Services are streamlined. That’s how this works” (2016). Inez is the co-founder of the Millennials for Memphis, an organization of young professionals looking to network and unite in an effort to improve opportunities for its generation in local government and community issues.
Blaming Millennials for harnessing the power of social media and digital reporting is akin to blaming them for using advanced mathematics and science tools to create more efficient ways of solving engineering or medical problems of today. Just because some of the older ways worked does not make them right or better.
Look at the benefits of the digital newsroom: you get your story to a wider global audience instantaneously. You interact with your readers and their feedback drives an ongoing discussion about the news. The proliferation of free information creates a stronger ability to be an advocacy journalist or be a watchdog over authority figures who cannot hide from the power of the digital signal. Of course, you have to know how to use all of those new resources.
Certainly, it doesn’t make your job easier.
I concede that all of this technology, while beneficial to the globalization of mass media, does not make the task of drawing and retaining readers any easier. It is tougher to get audiences – not just Millennials – to pay attention long enough to a quality piece of investigative print journalism or in-depth broadcast news. You have to be ready as a young or old journalist to give your blood, sweat, and tears to professional development throughout your career, and you have to be willing to adapt to the culture you are in.
The single largest argument of the Golden-age traditionalists is that Millennials no longer care about solid investigative print journalism, but that’s just not true. According to the 2015 Pew State of the Media Report (Mitchell, 2015), almost 23 percent of Millennials surveyed claimed that they read a newspaper the day prior, and that they read from traditional news sources at least once a week. This percentage is just a few points lower than the general population and older demographics. This suggests that there is still a desire from the younger generation to receive more intensive reporting allowed by print journalism. We still want quality information. It just takes the added step of clicking on a link or making digital content enticing enough to make us read further.
The bottom line is this – things have already changed and are continually changing in the news and reporting industry. They always have been. What has not really changed is our desire as readers to get engaging, entertaining, and informative news stories. While our technology and culture evolves, there will always be niches and markets for people who want life the old-fashioned way, and that’s perfectly fine.
Hopefully those traditionalists will swerve into the right-hand lane, while the rest of the world rides the left lane to a globally-connected, information-sharing society that has created the tools to make the world more connected and informed than ever before.
