Journalism, according to likes of Altheide and Snow (1991), is dead. As society makes its way into the “post-journalism era” (Bolin, 2014, 338), more of the news is becoming saturated with sensationalism and with an influx of, according to Nguyen (2012), lifestyle journalism. Which is, as believed by Nguyen (2012) the entertainment oriented “marginalisation and trivialisation of public affairs” (Nguyen, 2012 p. 1), that is the catalyst in “...the ‘dumbing down’ of news” (Nguyen, 2012, p.1). For the past decades the blurring of entertainment and information has been on the rise (Fursich, 2012) so much so that it has cultivated the term ‘infotainment’. Although lifestyle journalism has perpetuated a negative image in the eyes of journalists,
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No matter what Altheide and Snow (1991) might say, journalism is far from dead, in fact it has become larger than ever before, all that has changed is its content and the way it is being presented.
Lifestyle journalism has been a growing trend since the early 70s (Fursich, 2012). Travel journalism, with “...its dependency on free trips and giveaways...” (Fursich, 2012 p.15) is one of the earliest recognised forms of lifestyle journalism and “...is the topic of many critical articles in journalism reviews...”(Fursich, 2012, p.15). The rise of social media is believed to be the culprit behind this growing trend (Nguyen, 2012). With social media and the internet changing the journalistic landscape through destroying the traditional news cycle and through giving rise to the fifth estate, it is forcing journalists to …show more content…
Media outlets today are a far cry from what they used to be; journalism was born out of a need to maintain democracy, as well as to keep those in power in check (Lamble, 2013),therefore, serving the public sphere. However, these days with corporations in charge of media organisations journalism is becoming more like a commodity. As warned by Elliot (1994 as mentioned by Fursich, 2012, p.15) “...the distinctions drawn between ‘editorial’ and ‘adversarial’ content appear all but invisible” (Eliot, 1994, p. 56, as cited in Fursich, 2012, p. 15), which further emphasises the idea of news becoming commoditised and reliant on lifestyle news. However, as mentioned by Murdoch (2009, as mentioned in Nguyen, 2012) in order for a newspaper or media outlet to survive the editors must produce “...news that is relevant to their customers” (Murdoch, 2009, as cited in Nguyen, 2012, p. 707), which is reminiscent of the idea that journalists serve their society and the people, not themselves. However, Murdoch (2009) referring to the readers as ‘customers’ indicates that journalism is a business, and is about making a profit, rather than making a difference to society; highlighting the warnings of Currah (2009, as mentioned in Nguyen, 2012) and Franklin (1997, as mentioned in
No matter what Altheide and Snow (1991) might say, journalism is far from dead, in fact it has become larger than ever before, all that has changed is its content and the way it is being presented.
Lifestyle journalism has been a growing trend since the early 70s (Fursich, 2012). Travel journalism, with “...its dependency on free trips and giveaways...” (Fursich, 2012 p.15) is one of the earliest recognised forms of lifestyle journalism and “...is the topic of many critical articles in journalism reviews...”(Fursich, 2012, p.15). The rise of social media is believed to be the culprit behind this growing trend (Nguyen, 2012). With social media and the internet changing the journalistic landscape through destroying the traditional news cycle and through giving rise to the fifth estate, it is forcing journalists to …show more content…
Media outlets today are a far cry from what they used to be; journalism was born out of a need to maintain democracy, as well as to keep those in power in check (Lamble, 2013),therefore, serving the public sphere. However, these days with corporations in charge of media organisations journalism is becoming more like a commodity. As warned by Elliot (1994 as mentioned by Fursich, 2012, p.15) “...the distinctions drawn between ‘editorial’ and ‘adversarial’ content appear all but invisible” (Eliot, 1994, p. 56, as cited in Fursich, 2012, p. 15), which further emphasises the idea of news becoming commoditised and reliant on lifestyle news. However, as mentioned by Murdoch (2009, as mentioned in Nguyen, 2012) in order for a newspaper or media outlet to survive the editors must produce “...news that is relevant to their customers” (Murdoch, 2009, as cited in Nguyen, 2012, p. 707), which is reminiscent of the idea that journalists serve their society and the people, not themselves. However, Murdoch (2009) referring to the readers as ‘customers’ indicates that journalism is a business, and is about making a profit, rather than making a difference to society; highlighting the warnings of Currah (2009, as mentioned in Nguyen, 2012) and Franklin (1997, as mentioned in