News and Current Affairs

The expansion of news and current affairs journalism has continued with the emergence of the Internet. Since the early 1990s, when the Internet began to become a mass medium, it has developed into a steadily more important platform for journalism. The Internet is the world’s first truly global news medium, in that online journalism is accessible to anyone, anywhere on the planet, with a personal computer and an Internet connection.

In 1997 there were only 700 online news sites in the world. As of 2007 there were millions, and nearly every news organization has a website. In addition to sites operated by established news organizations, such as the BBC and CNN, there are millions more run by individual journalists, and by what are now called “bloggers”. Blogs are regularly updated online bulletins, often containing news and comment on the issues of the moment. Many are amateurish and ephemeral, read by only a handful of like-minded bloggers. Others, such as that written by Salam Pax, the “Baghdad Blogger” during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, become essential reading all over the world, supplying the traditional news media with stories and analyses.

Blogging is part of a broader trend towards “citizen journalism”, in which individuals armed with video cameras and mobile phones generate material for traditional news and current affairs outlets. Coverage of the Asian tsunami of Boxing Day 2004, for example, featured many video clips taken by people on the spot, then uploaded to the editorial offices of the BBC and others for incorporation into news bulletins.

The rise of citizen journalism, also known as user-generated content, has benefited traditional news and current affairs broadcasting by making available more of the raw material of news. In general, therefore, the trend has been welcomed by the news media. However, concerns have been raised about the quality controls on this kind of material. How can the accuracy and objectivity of user-generated content be guaranteed, in the absence of professional skills and editorial safeguards? This is an issue that traditional news and current affairs media are now grappling with, in an effort to harness the potential of new technologies like the Internet, while preserving the perceived reliability of their programmes.

The Internet has also fuelled what some observers call a “commentary explosion”, in which more and more of the content of journalism is not factual reportage, or balanced analysis and commentary on the news, but rumour, gossip, polemic, and bias. Again, news media face the issue of trying to filter out worthwhile commentary and analysis for inclusion in their news and current affairs programmes. The greatest challenge facing news and current affairs journalism today is not the quantity of material available, and the number of platforms from which journalism can be distributed, but ensuring the quality of what is produced.

Additional material by Brian McNair, Professor of Journalism and Communication, University of Strathclyde. Author, Cultural Chaos: Journalism, News and Power in a Globalised World.