Journalism in 2036
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Journalism is a career that will always be affected by technology's constant change. It is hard to know what journalism will look like, even when looking just a few years into the future.
Online journalism professor and blogger Paul Bradshaw took on the challenge of making a prediction of what journalism would be like in the year 2036, roughly twenty five years from now.
One of his predictions is that people will still be predicting the death of newspapers. The future of newspapers is already of great debate today and Bradshaw predicts that this will still be the case in twenty five years.
Bradshaw points out that people have thought newspapers would die for many years due to new technology, yet they have continued to survive despite this.
He argues that as long as newspapers offer influence and status, proprietors will keep the newspaper business afloat.
I found this to be an interesting prediction. I would agree with Bradshaw that even if newspaper sales are down, wealthy investors and proprietors have the ability to keep the newspaper business afloat.
While I do see the logic in Bradshaw's prediction, I think applying it to twenty five years down the road is a bit too far fetched. With so many new forms of receiving news by way of internet, phones, and tablets, I feel as though in twenty five years the fate of newspapers will be decided.
While investors do have the power to keep the newspaper business alive, the public also has a large say in the matter. If people aren't reading it and favor another form for getting their news, eventually investors will be forced to do the same.
For more of Bradshaw's predictions, visit this link.
Photo Credit: Creative Commons
2 comments:
I think it's really interesting that he still believes the newspaper will be alive. I think it probably will too, if only because of the generations of newspaper readers now will still be around. While our generation isn't much for reading the newspaper, our parents and some grandparents will still be around in 25 years to buy and read newspapers.
I do not think newspapers will be around in 25 years. Yes, many people have said that newspapers would be dead by now, but 25 years from now is a far stretch. We have no idea what type of technology advancements can take place, with the possibility of pushing newspapers even deeper into the ground. Only time will tell.
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