Is there a need for professional journalism?

Last week the New York Times announced that from 2011 it would be charging its readers for full access to its website. According to reports, it would appear that many UK papers will follow suit. So where does that leave us?

On Radio 4’s Today programme Professor Tim Luckhurst expressed his optimism for the future of journalism. He believes people are accustomed to the idea that you need professional journalism, and that in the new era of the Internet, social media networks are beginning to drive people towards professional journalism. He added that the culture will have to change if people want edited, professional journalism. (Follow the link above to hear the whole interview.)

I would beg to differ.

There are, as he says, plenty of people who want professional journalism. If you want to know the news and know it’s correct, you’ll go to a respected source such as the BBC, as discussed in Tasha’s last post. Therefore those people will be willing to pay for it.

Optimism

These, however, are people who are already interested in news. Who already read The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph… But going back to Giles’ previous post. Who is the future audience? Children, teenagers. I can’t imagine many of them will be paying for a subscription to The Times any time soon.

If online newspapers do become subscription only, I think there could be problems for professional journalism. People could grow up getting their information from other, less reliable sources, and that will become the norm. According to this article, 18 to 24 year olds are already heading elsewhere. By the looks of it the need for professional journalism is on the decline.

Reliable

At the moment if you search for a news story, apart from television-related sites, and the likes of Reuters, the majority of top results will be linked to a newspaper, be it local, national or international. Take all but a few away, and you’ll start hitting blogs, Facebook and other sites.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, so long as the information’s accurate. So is there any way we can ensure that the news people are accessing is correct? Another question for another day.