Reportr.net

The NUJ has published its report on multimedia working in the UK, looking at impact of new technologies on journalists.

Among its key conclusions is that:

The quality of journalism is being threatened in the multimedia age because of the increasing demands placed on reporters, who are working longer hours and taking on more responsibility for no extra pay

This is not news to anyone working in multimedia newsroom, where journalists are increasingly been asked to do more with less. To its credit, the NUJ recognised that technology is not to blame for this, but rather “its appropriation by shortsighted media employers”.

Instead the report found that the most serious threat to the quality of online journalism was the practice of publishing material without it being checked by a journalist. This issue has nothing to do with the technology and more with the issue of allocating adequate resources to an online news operation. This is a financial decision.

As the report spells out:

The real threat to quality comes not from technology, not from new media, not even from the “citizen journalist”, but from those who treat information and news as nothing more than a commodity, and journalists as the servants of corporate interests, not the public”

Paul Bradshaw found an interesting tidbit in the report, posting a photo of the text on his blog:

I fail to see how the Internet is a threat to “decent professional journalism”. It is an opportunity for journalists to be better journalists.