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How can journalists save their profession from irrelevance?
This is a question that should be keeping those who still care about the future of the profession up at night. There is little doubt left that the press has ceased to be a profitable business. It is also becoming increasingly clear that artificial intelligence is poised to occupy spaces previously exclusive to journalism. Despite all these negative indicators, the unfolding conflict between the old and the new reveals opportunities unprecedented in the history of journalism, as we shall attempt to show below. But first, we must understand how we arrived at this point today.
Pressured by an avalanche of innovations that radically altered the routines, rules, and values of journalistic work, both professionals and non-professionals were thrust into a grueling struggle for economic survival. Lacking time, information, and funds, they were compelled to embrace the internet and computing as mere tools, failing to see that both represent a profound rupture in the way journalism has been practiced since the time of Gutenberg.
Traditional journalism is gradually losing the key theoretical foundations built upon liberal-democratic concepts. Principles such as neutrality, impartiality, objectivity, copyright, source confidentiality, and freedom of expression are being challenged in the day-to-day practice of the profession by…
