Those who make television in the US are worried. And rightly so. A survey by the social research institute PEW Research shows that while just 8 years ago 42% of people between the ages of 18 and 29 watched news on television, today their percentage has dropped to 30%.
There are quite a few journalists who express fears that the crisis that mercilessly hit newspapers and magazines a few years ago is now knocking on the door of television.
Seeking "new visions" for the television of the future, journalism professor Jeff Jarvis invited journalists, producers, students, entrepreneurs and scientists to the City University of New York to discuss and exchange ideas.
Among them was Rijat Mindi, who set up social media at the Arabic television program Al Jazeera. Dialogue, he says, is all viewers care about: “People trust other people in principle. So how do you get news out to the world? How do you get viewers to share the news they’re watching online even more?” Tom Keane of Bloomberg News agrees: “We’ve tried one, we’ve tried the other. People don’t want anything different!”
So the emphasis is on social networking!
Two terms are heard most in discussions: Personal and Social, meaning news tailored to internet users, who then share the news on social, comment and discuss.
The more than 20 proposals for the revival of television presented range from mobile phone apps and artificial aids to ideas for reimagining classic TV shows. For example, TouchCast is a tablet app that allows journalists to present their own newscasts, including a teleprompter.
The City University of New York is planning to create a “Social Journalism” curriculum to harness the potential of social media. Professor Jeff Jarvis explains: “We need to move away from the idea that what we are providing is content. Journalism is about providing a service to society. So we need to know society and listen to it before we start providing content.”.
Source: skai.gr
