Chapter 1: Introduction
Navigating the Digital Transformation in Journalism
“Journalists know news and opinion are separate, but readers often can’t tell the difference” – Kevin Lerner.
Chomsky asserts that “propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state” -Media Control.
Welcome to our smartphone-tethered, screen-dominated, digitally convergent, template and algorithm-driven society and AI-aided world where the multifaceted over 8.2 billion world population contributes to a rich tapestry of cultural and philosophical thoughts. In this troll-harassed, social media-dominated, media-saturated and content-flooded post-truth era thousands of children and unsavvy net users are being victimised by scammers and fraudsters.
Admittedly, digital migrant journalists must feel unnerving faced with the suite of gadgetry in the world of digital convergence whereas digital native journalists have naturally embraced it and use them with ease, as if it’s second nature to them. The digital era has ushered in an unprecedented transformation across all aspects of human existence, redefining how we communicate, consume information, and connect with the world. For journalists – be they seasoned professionals, emerging trainees, or everyday citizens capturing and sharing events – this transformation represents an extraordinary opportunity as well as an immense challenge for citizens.
Unbeknown to many a new wave of undercurrents of digital technology, most notably artificial intelligence and algorithms has permeated our life to fundamentally alter the way we live, study, work, interact with others, how we care about our health and perceive world affairs. This phenomenon has made an inroad into our life, influencing the modality of everything we do – the way or mode in which we live and do things. The redefined media have also redefined this modus operandi of gathering, dissemination, production, distribution and consumption of news.
AI-powered tools are capable of rejigging headlines and news angles to attention grabbing headlines, writing articles, editing videos, rapidly analysing vast datasets, enhancing storytelling, generating photorealistic characters and deep fake videos with startling accuracy. AI has also dramatically transformed every aspect of capital-intensive filmmaking, having taken over the role of a film crew from writing scripts and production to film direction and editing. Paradoxically, while the waves of innovations are promising for mankind they also create a set of concomitant dilemmas of values, morality and ethics.
The increasingly pervading AI tools have led to gatecrashing of journalism allowing entry to net users who are constantly churning out user-generated content of different sorts:
(a) Audio-Video information: animal intelligence and behaviours, demos of products, brand tributes, tutorials on how to build, make or solve a problem engage real people encouraging them to share on social media.
(b) Comments, Views and Reviews: User-generated reviews on social platforms, primarily on YouTube channels, forums and discussion boards, and websites enabling feedback from net users.
(c) Podcast dialogues: Podcast involves dialogues between one or more participants, generating awareness and building trust among listeners.
(d) Dramatised events: A dramatised event is a real-life occurrence or story that is recreated, portrayed, or presented in a way that enhances its emotional, narrative, or visual impact. This often involves scripted dialogue, heightened tension, music, or visual effects to make the event more engaging, memorable, or relatable to an audience.
(e) Selfies: Selfies that customers take with products or branded materials (e.g., posters, storefronts, and branded backdrops) help enhance brand awareness on social media.
(f) Articles: Content creators who create and post their experiences, poems, thoughts, views and reviews on community forums and journals and
(g) Ideological discourses and personal messages on mobile apps including Instagram, WhatsApp etc. [NEXT –Types of Digital Content]