Media democracy in 2009
Journalism's future in an ailing industry
by Diego Pelaez GaetzTerrine Friday
PHOTO JONOTHAN DEMPSEY
Media Democracy Special Issue Coordinators
Each year in October, journalists across Canada celebrate Media Democracy Day.
The concept of media democracy is open to bias, legal interpretation and criticism. In the context of a technology-centric era where data processing takes only seconds, it’s fair to say traditional news media has to embrace new challenges that come with technological advances that, while convenient for the consumer, may cost several people in the industry their jobs.
The goal of this special issue is to inform you of the challenges journalism faces today,
when blogging, tweeting and texting have transformed our daily digest of information into a 24-hour news cycle. Will the print newspaper prove to be a dinosaur in this new digital age of rapid access to information? Or will newspapers evolve and survive in the new media landscape?
We still need to stay informed, no matter how that information gets to us.
Whether that is strictly through a computer screen is up to the journalists who will reform the industry. As much as we would miss the nostalgic pleasure of breaking open the news section over breakfast, a new era of citizen journalism and a wider variety of news sources will only better equip the next generation with the information they need to uphold our democratic principles and freedoms.
The Link Volume 31 Issue 01