The function and role of journalism are the same, regardless of whatever medium that the news and commentaries come in. Electronic media, though, need lots and lots of pictures to survive and live up to the technological expectations of viewers. A quick pace in visual information servings plus volumes of images and video make for effective online journalism. The result is information overload. Much of this just flies over viewers’ heads. The best information uses practically nothing but words. In this manner, people don’t watch or listen, but ponder on issues, concepts, and ideas. The printed and written word has a different vibe.
Newspapers are said to be dying. But the ones that still take the news seriously are those who are not of the online generation. Younger generations or those who belong to the online culture are generally into other online things aside and apart from news. Newspapers have not lost their market and readership, making all the hyped-up relevance of online journalism overrated.
Journalists of the printed medium face a tougher but more exhilarating challenge of really conceptualizing their stories without the aid of any other tool such as images to help them tell the complete story.
The task of the journalist is to find out all the facts and present all the information he can find regarding the assignment on hand. The good journalist will allow his readers to form their own opinions. The better journalist will present an accurate and factual story of what happened and all its attendant details. This is the first level of what people would want to know.
The effective journalist, however, will go beyond that and attempt to present why people should know about the story. It is incumbent upon him, therefore, to present the context of it all. It is in this realm of context why the printed word will win over tons of images anytime.
