Democratizing the news media: new technologies may be changing journalism - but will they also make it easier to participate?

Roberto Rodriguez

New Technologies May Be Changing Journalism -- But

Will They Also Make It Easier to Participate?

Now that enormous quantities of raw information

are available to anyone with a

computer and a phone line, questions

arise not only about the role of journalists

and journalism educators, but also about whether

people of color will be an integral part of the

information superhighway.

At the recently concluded National Association

of Hispanic journalist's (NAHJ) Conference in

Chicago, the focus was on new technologies

and their impact on the journalism profession. The

conference was titled: "Welcome, Move Ahead. The

Future is Here." Its focus was on the need for

journalists "to be fluent in yet another language, the

language of computers."

Said an organizer, "More and more media

companies continue to venture into new [areas].

Newspapers, television networks and radio

networks are unveiling Web pages faster than you

can say Internet .... On-line, digital, World Wide

Web and cyberspace are fast becoming media

industry buzzwords."

The conference, by its very existence, made

plain what Claremont College's Tomas Rivera

Center (TRC) and other think tanks have warned

about: a technological gap exists between

communities, color and mainstream society. As if to

buttress this assertion, very few Latino information

and technology companies participated in

the conference.

Further Separation?

In a report last year on Latinos and the

information superhighway, TRC warned: "While

technology has the potential to support democratic

principles, without a guiding social contract the

highway may further separate our already

segmented society."

Henry Ingle, chairman of the communications

department at the University of Texas at El Paso

and vice president of technological planning,

worries that this gap between the information

"haves" and "have-nots" will also affect schools of

journalism. While he believes the role of journalists

is becoming more important in the information age,

he is not so sure that schools of journalism will be

able to keep up with the technological demands.

"The advances in technology will require journalists to do more

critical analysis, more in-depth stories," says Ingle. "It will require them

to go deeper into their stories. As a result [of the information

explosion], journalism and journalists will become much more

important."

But, beyond that fact, Ingle says, "The Internet is not mass

technology. It's a personal technology. People go to the Internet as

individuals, not en masse."

Rising to the Challenge

Through the use of fiber optics, the Internet will eventually combine

with cable television (with up to 500 channels), and access will be much

faster. Although there is an abundance of information on the Internet,

someone still has to verify and corroborate the information.

Says Ingle: "Someone has to check references [and] original

sources ... multiple sources become more important. Someone still has to

check the accuracy of the facts. Computers don't have superpowers."

In light of this,

says Ingle, the

biggest question

facing schools of

journalism is, Who

will train future

journalists in both

in-depth analysis

and the new

technologies?

Currently, he says,

journalists aren't

trained in in-depth

analysis. For that

reason, Ingle is

pushing for a new

approach to

educating

journalists.

In addition to teaching journalism and communication skills, Ingle

would require that journalism students receive a well-rounded

education -- especially in the fields of economics, education and political

science. Following this approach, he reasons, journalism schools would teach

students how to analyze information, not just present it.

Ingle is not sure that the schools are up to the challenge. He

suspects that the industry itself, which is profit-driven, may take the

lead in this training.

"That's a slap in the face to schools of journalism," says Ingle.

"Some schools are still trying to determine if journalism is a trade, a

craft, a vocation, a profession or an area of intellectual inquiry."

Those who believe that journalism is solely an area of intellectual

inquiry will be left behind by those schools who, in addition to offering

communications theory, stay ahead of the technological curve and retain

seasoned professionals with practical experience.

Beyond the Soundbite

Professor Mercedes Lynn de Uriarte of the School of journalism at

the University of Texas at Austin believes that the rapid technological

changes and the instantaneous delivery of the

news will not alter

the basic function of

journalists.

"Someone still has

to gather the news,"

she says.

The notion

that journalists would become obsolete is contrary to everything that is

known about viewer's habits, says de Uriarte. She notes that the

presentation of TV news has been getting briefer and simpler -- as

evidenced by the prevalence of soundbites. The theory is that the

viewer has a very short attention span. if that's the case, then how will

the viewer find time to sit down for two-to-three hours per day of

Internet news, asks Dr. de Uriarte.

Technological changes in the industry and in journalism schools

simply means "business as usual with bigger computers," says de

Uriarte.

To effectuate change in the industry, there has to be an actual change

in the intellectual approach -- in terms of what constitutes news and

how it is delivered, she says. "if the industry doesn't do something more

thoughtful than soundbite journalism, it can degenerate to the level of

the tabloid shows, where the more outlandish the news, the better. You

already see more sensational news [programs]. It's the same kind of slide

[to superficiality]."

Federico Subervi, a professor in the Department of Radio-TV and

Film at UT-Austin, says the new technology will assist journalists in

writing stories. "Even with all the technology,

journalists will still be needed. The use of

the Internet and electronic data is like a library.

They don't work on their own. What we'll

have is electronic libraries. The role of the

journalist will be dissemination and

interpretation -- [interpreting] meaning and

making sense [of the information]. We will

need even more well-trained journalists and

media professionals," says Subervi.

`Building a Community On-line'

Subervi says he accesses various electronic

networks, including the Institute

for Puerto Rican forum (IPR). "It's a new

kind of journalism," he says. "It fulfills a

number of functions."

One of the main functions of IPR is

that it connects people from across the

United States electronically, creating a

sense of community by providing an open

forum.

Lavonne Luquis, president of LatinoLink,

who directed a computer lab at the NAHJ

conference, says that its electronic service,

also accessible through the Internet, provides a

journalistic function with high standards: "Our

combined backgrounds as print journalists have

provided the framework on which we've built

LatinoLink's on-line reputation as a balanced,

accurate source of news."

As to whether ethnic/racial-specific

services such as LatinoLink will mean that

more news about people of color will be

accessible to the general public -- or that only

people of color will access these services -- she

comments: "That's a tough question.

About 12 percent of our readers are non-Latinos,

a number which has remained steady

over the past year. So, yes, there are some

people who are educating themselves about

our culture."

Commenting on LatinoLink's specialty,

Luquis says: "LatinoLink provides news,

columns and other items of interest for the

Latino community on the World Wide web. In

the weeks ahead, we'll be launching interactive

chat features that we hope will help foster a

deeper sense of community among our readers.

"I believe the so-called technology gap is

tied to an education gap. There are severe

problems in this country in many of the urban

and rural schools that Latino kids attend.

Working toward solving the education problem

will do a lot to help narrow the technology

gap. That said, I believe it's essential to have

on-line content that is relevant for Latinos, so that once

they do get wired they don't feel isolated in

cyberspace."

Enrique Gonzales, editor, Hispanic-On-Line,

which is an electronic service of Hispanic

magazine, says that he doesn't see their service

as performing journalistic functions. "We're

about building a community on-line. It's kind

of an electronic plaza where everyone can hang

out. This is not a one-way medium, but one

built and created by us and our users.

Regarding the effect of instantaneous news

on the profession, Gonzales says:

"Newspapers will continue to be shunted to a

narrower and narrower niche. Studies show

that in households with on-line access, fewer

hours are spent watching television."

However, he says, on-line media is not limited

to the news.

As far as the role journalists will play in

this new age, lie says: "I think it's very

important that journalists perform the

function of gathering and presenting the news.

If you want to look at it in a business school

model, journalists take data and turn it into

information. That is an added-value service.

"People are willing to pay for that so that

they do not have to gather it themselves. They

want a respectable and reliable source for that."

Computers, Not Camcorders

Gonzalez says on-line media means

"a democratization" of the news, but, he says,

the big media companies "still have the

strongest brand-name identity as respectable

news sources.

"Once on-line media can self-sustain

themselves financially, they will be able to

force mainstream media to respect

communities such as ours," he notes.

German Aranda, president of LatinoWeb

sees his service as a "virtual information

center." LatinoWeb was created as a conduit

for Latino information in the U.S. "It is a

skyscraper building of sorts, where Latino

organizations have offices accessible to the

world 24 hours a day, seven days a week, he

notes, adding that 35 percent of the people

who visit LatinoWeb are not Latino.

"Our primary goal is to help Latinos

become computer literate so that they can use

the Internet as a powerful information and

marketing tool," says Aranda.

Aranda says that part of the technology

gap is related to education, not necessarily

money. It is getting people. to buy computers,

rather than camcorders or stereos. "They cost

about the same as a computer," he says. "What we

need to do is get people to invest in a computer

for their entire family."

COPYRIGHT 1996 Cox, Matthews & Associates
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group