Newspapers in Crisis?

Written for http://buzz.bournemouth.ac.uk

Having just listened to a lecture by Stephen Jukes, Head of Bournemouth University’s Media School and a former reporter for Reuters, I was left feeling distinctly worried about what the state of the news industry will be when I graduate in two years’ time.

The upshot of the presentation was that the newspaper industry is having to adapt to rapidly changing technology and the recession has thrown it completely. No longer are journalists working on regional newspapers going out and reporting - the vast majority of their time is spent processing news. So when the local council does a dodgy deal with a developer how are the public going to find out about it?

What’s more, finding hard news is expensive. Comment is free and so instead of being able to access a broad spectrum of news stories we are instead being fed the same information, repackaged in as many different forms as possible. This takes less journalists, so it's small wonder that in a recession this is the method being turned to.

I must admit, I’m as guilty as the next student for looking up news on the web and was left feeling that I am neglecting to support the very industry that I am trying to enter. But then, its all so easy to do isn’t it? And there’s none of those mountain-ranges of newspapers to forever shift around my room and never find the time to read.

And therein lies the problem…