The Future of News

1. The Future of News Robert L. Stevenson UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication

2. Communication Revolution No. 1 • Invention of writing • Results: • Communication across time and space • Infinite accumulation of knowledge • Flexible, expanding cultures • Challenged authority of tribal leaders and guardians of culture

3. Communication Revolution No. 2 • Gutenberg’s invention of printing • Results: • Cheap, fast reproduction of information • News emerged quickly • Modern society became possible: languages, bureaucracy, democracy • Traditional authority challenged

4. Communication Revolution No. 3 • Convergence of technologies: • Computers • Satellites • Digitization • Result is capacity to transmit unlimited quantities of information from any point on earth to any other point almost instantly

5. Implications • An end to national sovereignty? • Near impossibility of any kind of regulation? Or total regulation? • Information as new form of wealth and power • Information-rich and information-poor • Regulation of an information economy

6. An information-driven world • National control • Maintenance of legal standards • Taxation • Protection of intellectual property • A new form of Western (Anglo-American) global dominance?

7. The global news system • A global network of computers, constantly updating time-sensitive data bases • Comprising… • A handful of Western information-based organizations operating globally • Second-tier national and regional agencies • A handful of elite national media

8. The global news system • Pumps massive quantities of information to local gatekeepers who allow a trickle into local media • Is dominated by Anglo-American organizations • Mixture of public and private • Follows Anglo-American style of content and format

9. The global news system • News capital is probably London, not New York • Information generated and distributed mostly in English • Surprisingly well connected to local and non-English media

10. The players • Global wholesalers • Mixed suppliers

11. Global news diet and menu • Global system pumps a flood of information into small local systems • Tiny trickle get into most national and local media • In many (most?) countries, international news is a rare (but not endangered) species

12. A typical snapshot of the world • One or two universal blockbuster stories, often violent • One or two major events with national involvement or linkages • A small but steady dose of business, sports, entertainment

13. Influences on the world snapshot • Global wholesalers and players set the agenda • Characteristics of the system: stationing of resources, economic, cultural ties • Gatekeeper news values (proximity, prominence, deviance, disruption) • U.S. as unique news superpower

14. Alternative definitions of news • News is a coherent (ideological?) interpretation of the world • News is a non-partisan summary of events and useful data with a separate forum for opinions • News is now something else:

15. The revolution in news • News is data • News is components • News is live or on-demand • News is multi-media • News is personal • News is interactive

16. Re-valuing information • Be traditional • Give away the news, sell the olds • Spread the costs • Give it away and sell ads

17. The downside of the future • Commercial dominance • Rise of extremism • The digital divide

18. Journalism in the future • Summarize events • Assemble elements of a complex event • Separate the probably true from the obviously false • Monitor powerful institutions • Tell us what to think about