Contemporary Issues Facing Global Journalism

What Critical Issue does Global Journalism face today, and how can Journalists Overcome the Challenge?

This essay intends to explore contemporary issues in the domain of global journalism, with alternative remedies to the underlying challenges. As Ekaterina (2018) records, the news docket where journalism is in-built has faced unprecedented dynamics, especially with the conception of the internet; which has significantly inspired the applications of digital social media, and online searches for news. The advent of the internet thus, has profoundly re-oriented how news is produced, accessed and disseminated amongst groups. Moreover, the internet has radically impacted on the economics of the media industry, with a notable decrease in advertising revenues for European newspapers, so eloquent in records. Beyond Europe to Asia and the rest of the world, journalism has visibly changed relative to the medieval days. In view of the dynamics, this essay stands on the threshold of exploring the contemporary issues defining the global journalism domain and gives suggestions for possible solutions to challenges therein.

The media which is a construction of television, radio, magazine, internet, and the newspapers has been considered by Edmund Burke as yet, another arm of government in the context of the United Kingdom. This is a consideration of the vital role media constitutes especially in the docket of sustainable development. Thomas Jefferson, the third president of America, maintained a view that, ‘‘were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter” (Waisbord, 2013). The role of media and a nation’s development are seemingly entwined. Additionally; the press has acted as a tool of emancipating the members of the public, from the shackles of chains of poverty, mediocrity, and ignorance. Through media, governments are spotlighted, thus bringing to the public limelight what the governments are doing for the best interests of the public (Price, 2015).

Remarkably, the current journalists are thriving in the most volatile environments, as no any other sector has in the past one hundred years (Tettey, 2001). While the circulation of traditional newspapers has declined globally, this trend is accredited to the advent of modern technologies which people are relying on for information and updates. The conception of televisions and internet alongside digital social media has inspired migrations from archaic forms of news transfer and access to the digitalized modern ones. Consequently, journalists of today have also diverted to match the dynamics therein by embracing digitalized platforms to disseminate news (Willmar, Weaver, and Choi, 2013).

The initiation of new media has bred forth a chance for advertisers to personalize their news in the pursuit to target particular intended groups. The challenge amidst the transitions has been the loss of advertising revenue, but again the induction of a threat that has been posed on the proposition that journalists will no longer be the sole gatekeepers for information access; a premise which had been upheld for too long. The eruption of social media has enabled anyone to account for the dissemination of information anytime. This trend has gained motivation especially in the United Kingdom and Japan, where the spread of news and information is not an isolated matter for the journalists alone (Weaver, and Willnat, 2012).

As journalists and journalism continually avail news and information to the public limelight, they are constricted by a plethora of challenges, amidst their line of duties. In many cases, journalists have been caught in the middle of the battlefront. Media in the contemporary era has constituted a part in conflict situations (Wasserman, 2011). Consequently, the governments of the day and militant groups have inclined to strive to manipulate media through whatever they release. In such discourses, where militia groups tend to target media, it, therefore, pronounces that journalists’ security issues are under threats. Notably, in the 1990s; one hundred and twenty Colombian Journalists were killed for having reported against corruption and drug trafficking (Howard et al., 2003,). Many journalists have been losing their life, for unveiling crimes propagated in various countries.

Additionally, inadequate professional training and hostile environment attribute to barriers working effectively in conflict situations. Many organizations globally deny journalists efficient employment rights. According to Franklin (2017), “Almost a third of journalists worldwide are freelance, many of them are working in poor and precarious working conditions.” Empirical studies have demonstrated time without number how journalists are exploited by organizations which do not provide them with ample security and nominal salaries. In the context of India, Blondheim, Segev, and Cabrera (2015), note with concern that, “What is common about the media of the entire Northeast is that in all the States journalists are underpaid.” The sentiments by these scholars give a vivid impression of a journalism society that is not inspired by both government organizations especially in the eve third world countries.

As a result, as a survival tactic, many journalists have opted to learn new tricks to earn payments from people; for not covering their events or doings (Van Dijk, 2013). This predicament can be reverted through informed through the emancipation of the public, organization and the government about the critical role the journalism docket play in society, and therefore appreciating the efforts by the press. Additionally, the practicing journalists can be motivated to work hard to obtain distinct knowledge for performances in their area of journalism, such that they become competent and independent in carrying out their journalistic duties (Hanitzsch et al., 2012).

In their daily endeavours, journalists in their efforts to cover new do encounter violent incidents, which are too overwhelming and thus traumatic (Herbert, 2013). The journalists, especially in war-ridden countries, have faced terrifying scenes which in many cases induce negative impacts on them emotionally. As professionals in this field, they ought to collect information from scenes of crime, bringing them into the limelight of the public. This devotion does not always happen in a friendly environment, but hostile and terrifying grounds of bomb blasts.

Through interviewing those who have tested the extremities of war and attacks, journalists acquire and document such horrific stories and scenes; and research has demonstrated such experiences bear psychological impacts on the part of the journalist. According to Dr. Martin Cohen who works as a clinical psychologist in India, Journalists are probable secondary victims based on the type and nature of their job. Additionally, he observes that journalists are susceptible to post-traumatic-stress-syndrome for continually covering felony or heinous crises (Hoover, 2011). All the experiences the journalists get to experience actively or passively greatly contribute to their psychological wellbeing, which thus calls for a structured form of education to tread through the profession.

Journalists thus need to protect their healthy wellbeing in the process of working in hostile grounds. Otherwise, emotional reactions such as stress, trauma, shock anger, sadness, and fear may take the course in their lives. The victims may consequently suffer from the atrocities of physical pains, headaches, tension, and stomach upsets. However, constant exposure to such experiences may induce lifelong depressions, panic and post-traumatic stress disorder (Lewis, 2011). Notably, the effect of trauma globally as a result of horrific coverage has ascended to the threshold of contemporary trends in modern journalism, where the global nations are warring against terrorist groups and where the raging nature decide to cause havoc significantly through tsunamis and floods. Such impacts have obtained attention. To combat the consequences, the reawakening sense to provide briefing programs and psychological training to journalists is deemed applicable and useful in such modern dispensations. There is a need for programmes geared to prepare journalists emotionally especially those working in unsafe environments, and war-stricken domains (Price, 2015).

As another trend in global journalism, pressure from bosses within the media houses is no longer new to the modern journalists. When there are emerging eruptions of crimes, wars, and news that need overage; research has demonstrated that pressure is exerted to journalists to take ground and unravel the embedded contentions on the ground. In countries such as Colombia which are characterized by regular conflicts, the journalists are always under pressure from the bosses (Mabweazara, Mudhai, and Whittaker, 2014). Globally, the media corporations have exerted priority on operations which they deem profitable. The companies owners are thrived to believe that such conflicting situations are more income-generating than the casual ones.

Moreover, the management and control of media companies have been receiving pressure from the proponents to confine themselves towards more profits (Van Dalen, De Vreese, and Albæk, 2012). Consequently, the journalists in global perspectives have obtained pressure to investigate news and stories in hard deadlines, which does not give room for detailed investigation of news sources. Many newspapers, as a result, have manipulated and taken control of news flow in such a manner to suit their demands as advertisers. Alternatively, government-owned media paves the way for government leaders to manage that which they want to be aired.

The freedom of the media has been significantly compromised especially in the third world countries (Maciá-Barber, 2014). Due to the influence which the wealthy political class has, they can determine that which they want to be captured in the limelight of newspapers and other channels. Thailand is a typical example where media is used at the expense of the owner’s prerogative. The political class has continually used their propensity and power to defend their actions, and indeed silencing the most vibrant members of the society. The freedom of a press is such a necessary premise, and thus there is a need for informed legislation in support of the freedom of a journalist, to keep off manipulations from the class members, especially from political divide (Noguera-Vivo, 2013).

Journalism education has ascended to become one of the critical aspects in the contemporary journalism world. There has been an essential observation seeking the need for informed competencies, skills, and technical knowledge in the area of journalism. Indeed, from the global perspective, journalism education is becoming an essential requirement especially if one envisages working in conflict zones (Nordenstreng, and Pasti, 2012). An informed training which journalists undergo prepares them to be able to make informed decisions in the selection of stories or writing the story while still upholding ethical considerations and standards. Additionally, training has formed a sound basis for the maintenance of particular pressures, trauma and wants within the jurisdiction of journalism in hostile environments.

However, not all global countries are enjoying the prospects of journalism education, based on the proposition that it is rendered less eminence. In some Asian, South America and African countries; journalism education is an evergreen subject, which has not been ventured into. Considerably, the existing frameworks and journalism courses have not adequately covered the demands for journalism which consequently give birth to raw journalists. There is a need to observe what other countries are doing for the best of journalism, in the quest to borrow that which is applicable and of use, to uplift the quality of training for journalists. By uplifting the quality of a nation’s journalists, the country will indeed be steering toward the right direction; towards the realization of sustainable development (Picard, 2010).

To conclude, as discussed at the beginning of the essay, the advent of the internet dramatically influenced the journalism terrain on the global platform. Through the internet, came into being the digital social media platforms through which information found a course through which dissemination anchors. The impact of the internet equally gave birth to digital journalism, which is a product of archaic journalism that solely depended on newspaper. The impacts of the digitalized media such as reduced revenues from newspaper advertising ere eloquent by presence especially in Europe and Asia. The paper has discussed the trends of journalism in a global perspective and explored what are the constraints attached to journalism on the eve of hostilities and indeed dangerous landscapes. This essay concludes by emphasizing Thomas Jefferson’s sentiment; that ‘‘were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter”. A country’s press is a tool to emancipate the masses and inform them about things which matters in the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainable development.

References

• Blondheim, M., Segev, E. and Cabrera, M.Á., 2015. The prominence of weak economies: Factors and trends in global news coverage of economic crisis, 2009–2012. International Journal of Communication, 9, p.22.
• Ekaterina, G., 2018. Author's journalism as a global media trend: A case study of The Russian Pioneer magazine.
• Franklin, B., 2017. The Future of Journalism: In an Age of Digital Media and Economic Uncertainty. Routledge.
• Hanitzsch, T., Seethaler, J., Skewes, E.A., Anikina, M. and Berganza, R., 2012. Worlds of Journalism: Journalistic Cultures, Professional Autonomy, and Perceived Influences across 18 Nations. In The global journalist in the 21st century (pp. 483-504). Routledge.
• Herbert, J., 2013. Practising global journalism: Exploring reporting issues worldwide. Focal Press.
• Hoover, S.M., 2011. Media and the imagination of religion in contemporary global culture. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 14(6), pp.610-625.
• Howard, R., Rolt, F., Van de Veen, H. and Verhoeven, J., 2003. The power of the media. A handbook for peacebuilders. Utrecht: European Centre for Conflict Prevention.
• Lewis, S.C., 2011, May. The sociology of professions, boundary work, and participation in journalism: A review of the literature. In 2011 International Communication Association Conference (pp. 26-30).
• Mabweazara, H.M., Mudhai, O.F. and Whittaker, J. eds., 2014. Online journalism in Africa: Trends, practices and emerging cultures. Routledge.
• Maciá-Barber, C., 2014. New challenges for an enduring code of journalistic ethics: the news media business model in the face of ethical standards and citizen participation. Comunicação e Sociedade, 25, pp.97-109.
• Noguera-Vivo, J.M., 2013. How open are journalists on Twitter? Trends towards the end-user journalism.
• Nordenstreng, K. and Pasti, S., 2012, June. Paradoxes of journalistic profession: Case of Russia in the context of the BRICS countries. In Paper for 1st International Conference of Journalism Studies Santiago de Chile.
• Picard, R.G., 2010. A business perspective on challenges facing journalism. The changing business of journalism and its implications for democracy, pp.17-24.
• Price, G., 2015. Opportunities and Challenges for Journalism in the Digital Age: Asian and European Perspectives. London: The Royal Institute of International Affairs.
• Tettey, W.J., 2001. The media and democratization in Africa: contributions, constraints and concerns of the private press. Media, Culture & Society, 23(1), pp.5-31.
• Van Dalen, A., De Vreese, C.H. and Albæk, E., 2012. Different roles, different content? A four country comparison of the role conceptions and reporting style of political journalists. Journalism, 13(7), pp.903-922.
• Van Dijk, T.A., 2013. News analysis: Case studies of international and national news in the press. Routledge.
• Waisbord, S., 2013. Reinventing professionalism: Journalism and news in global perspective. John Wiley & Sons.
• Wasserman, H., 2011. Global journalism studies: Beyond panoramas. Communication: South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research, 37(1), pp.100-117.
• Weaver, D.H. and Willnat, L. eds., 2012. The global journalist in the 21st century. Routledge.
• Willmar, L., Weaver, D.H. and Choi, J., 2013. The global journalist in the twenty-first century: A cross-national study of journalistic competencies. Journalism Practice, 7(2), pp.163-183.