Do media professionals really have no place in the social and digital era?

Social Media vs Traditional Media.

The year is 2014; we have smartphones, laptops, tablets and coffee machines controlled by smartphones. News is easily available so we constantly informed and given the information we need to suit our lifestyles and personalities. We constantly connected even while we sleeping. Now the problem with all of this technological and digital innovation is that traditional methods of communication suffer, forcing media professional’s to rethink and restructure operation processes. According to strategist and communications consultant, Ulaysha Sukhu, professionals have coped with the ever-changing digital media platforms and even, newsroom cutbacks but for most there is a want to thrive on these changes.

News has always been free; newspapers were sold not for the news stories but rather for the features that journalists had written. Currently media houses are faced with the challenge of declining advertising and circulation that is rapidly declining. It would be foolish, to expect people to pay for a service, they have received for free for years.

Does the traditional journalist have a place in the social era? No, the traditional journalist does not have a place in a Social and digital world, but an innovative journalist does!

To be an innovative journalist, one would need to forget all that they know about traditional media platforms, expect for a few vital points. The first is that content is king; whether your publication is digital or print, an audience chose you for your content. Editorial integrity ensures quality assurance. Strategic advisor to the Daily Mail, Bill Raduchel says, that quality assurance is what will successfully move a print company into the digital age without too much disruption if it is done well.  The quality of the stories should not deteriorate; readers trust the brand to stay the same through this period of disruption. The second is a cliché but people still believe what they read! Digital and social platforms are too easily accessible; people look to print for credibility. According to Head of Operations at FT.com and Financial Times associate Editor, Lisa MacLeod, the Financial Times breaks major stories on print before digital because readers identify more with the story if put on paper before it is put on the web.  With that said, journalists have always played a vital role in society, journalists speak for those who cannot speak and importantly are watchdogs for the government and as well as create public opinion on many social matters.

Media houses in South Africa will survive the digital and social media disruption but no media house will function the same way it did 25 or even five years ago.