Convergence in Broadcast and Journalism

"Convergence refers in the first instance to the interlinking of computing and IT, communication networks, and media content that occurred with the development and popularization of the Internet and the convergent products, services and activities that have emerged in the digital media space."-Flew

 

 

When it comes to convergence in broadcast and journalism we can't really ask the question should they take advantage of convergence. We more so have to ask the question, how much has convergence affected it?

 

 

 

From the journalism standpoint, convergence is its present and its future. Plain and simple. At one point and time the only way for a journalist to get a news story out was by writing an article and having it be published in a newspaper or a magazine. When it came to broadcasted news the only way to receive that was turning on a radio and listening to some fire side chats. Nowadays though, with journalism you can just the New York Times website and not only find written articles, but also videos to go along with them. In fact many people believe that journalism is a dying industry, but in fact they would be wrong. Yes, the newspaper industry is dying and will eventually go the way of the dinosaurs, the actually journalism industry is growing.

While with broadcast there is now the television in addition to the radio and it features hundreds of channels that are meant solely for news. Sure they will have some other things broadcast on them as well but the majority of their programming is news. Add into that the different types of news broadcasts on Youtube and the major news corporation websites and you have yourself a regular smorgasbord of convergent broadcasting.

Today though, the real key in the convergent news reporting is the integration of multiple different aspects of reporting. In particular, I am interested in the sports aspect of journalism and broadcast. Now sure there are some instances where a sports journalist will write a weekly column featuring mainly just an article with interviews and not much else. But in order to be really successful, multiple integrations must be included. In order to really catch the readers eye there may need to be a little more than just that solo article and most of the time there is. Nowadays you would be hard pressed to find just a simple article that also doesn't include a flashy highlight video to go along with it. Or the way that is even more prevalent in my findings are when the voice over is done in conjunction with said highlight video or over a slideshow of pictures.

All images courtesy of ESPN, CBSSports and the AP

 

Broadcasting has even been taken to a whole new level thanks to all the different ways you can stream a live event. ESPN in particular has really become big on this by creating the ability to stream sports right to your computer, phone or tablet thanks to ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.

 



 

 

The reason for all of this convergence really boils down to one thing and one thing only, the advertisements. 2009 was the last year in which newspaper ad spending was higher than online ad spending. Since that time the online ad spending has been on the up and up, while the newspaper ad spending has slowly been decreasing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Viewing projections of future print advertisement spending it is clear that this is a trend that will continue until newspapers are no longer in existence. As much as some people may not want to accept that realization, they are going to have to. Especially seeing as the current generation is so technology oriented as is and most probably do not even open a newspaper. I'm not saying they don't read the news I am just saying it is coming from other sources other than a physical paper. With all the different news outlets available on the web everybody is searching for the newest story and freshest story which isn't going to come from the one single newspaper that is either offered on the college campus or that they get at home.

 

 

 

Sources:

 

 

Convergence review final report. (2012). Canberra: Dept. of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.

Faglio, S. (2013, February 2). 2012 Marketing Spending Will Be Higher For Online Ads Than Print | Business 2 Community. Business 2 Community - Building Deeper Business Relationships Through Engaging Communities. Retrieved February 6, 2013, from http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/2012-marketing-spending-will-be-higher-for-online-ads-than-print-0124857

Flew, T. (2008). New media: an introduction (3rd ed.). South Melbourne, Vic.: Oxford University Press.

Journalism genres - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved February 6, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism_genres#Convergence_journalism

KEY FINDINGS. (n.d.). Convergence Journalism. Retrieved February 6, 2013, from http://www.convergencejournalism.com/

Klinenburg, E. (2005) Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , Vol. 597, Cultural Production in a Digital Age pp. 48-64.

Media Convergence - YouTube. (n.d.). YouTube. Retrieved February 6, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdJlyh76dEc

Newspapers Timeline. (n.d.). Dipity - Find, Create, and Embed Interactive Timelines. Retrieved February 6, 2013, from http://www.dipity.com/rauen74/Newspapers/

Too many journalists ?  | Monday Note. (n.d.). Monday Note. Retrieved February 6, 2013, from http://www.mondaynote.com/2010/07/11/too-many-journalists/

WatchESPN Sunday Night Baseball "Pilots" - YouTube. (n.d.). YouTube. Retrieved February 6, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wMhuKrkNRg