The
increase of social media's role in society has provided to the creation of the
concept of mass amateurization. As Clay Shirky points out
in Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable, newspapers are
essentially going out of style, and thus out of business.
"If
you want to know why newspapers are in such trouble, the most salient fact is
this: Printing presses are terrifically expensive to set up and to run. This
bit of economics, normal since Gutenberg, limits competition while creating
positive returns to scale for the press owner, a happy pair of economic effects
that feed on each other." (Shirky, Newspapers
and Thinking the Unthinkable)
As Shirky touches on
earlier in the text, the creation and introduction of the internet has
completely changed the game for the newspaper industry. Fast-forward to today,
and many newspapers no longer use print, and have completely switched to
becoming an online news organization. The success of an article online is
determined by how many clicks it receives. Which is why people believe
journalism is dying, as it's not necessarily "hard news" that will
get clicks.
Additionally, the way people
receive news has changed massively. Topics become trending on Facebook or
Twitter and the people who break the news and get journalists aware of the the
story are typically civilians who are in the area, thus the increased role of
"amateurs". Not only can tweeting stories help journalists get the
story, but sometimes has lead to the media acknowledging a story they were
previously ignoring or not covering.
The
Chapel Hill shooting is perhaps the most prominent example of this. With The Independent even writing a story
about whether or not western media would have covered the story had it not been
for big call for it on Twitter. In the article, "Chapel Hill shooting: Would the media have covered the tragedy if
Twitter didn’t exist, and what would have happened if the murderer was Muslim?”,
writer Mashaal Mir states “They’re
upset because nobody really cared about this story until it trended on
Twitter, and because of the slow response by the western media and the silence
from politicians. But most of all, they’re upset because they feel Muslim lives
do not matter in the West.” (Mir)
Twitter has taken on such an
important role in journalism, so much so that I remember have several Ethics classes
here focused on the idea of journalism and twitter. Our professor told us that
much how making a factual or spelling error in an article can get a journalist
in trouble or fired, the same can happen when those mistakes are made in a
tweet. So the reality for journalists now, and future journalists, is that they
basically have to have a twitter account and they have to know how to use it.
If you’re a journalist, and you don’t have twitter, there’s a large audience
that you are missing out on just because you don’t have this app.
Mass amateurization obviously
doesn’t just apply to journalism, it applies to many aspects of life. For
example, there are Twitter and Instagram accounts out there that are dedicated
to showing the best skills and goals of amateur or “Sunday league” soccer. This
essentially glorifies the amateur side of the sport. These videos were picked
up by the likes of Sky Sports, one of the biggest sports news organizations in
England, and they applied a segment on their show dedicated to showing the best
amateur goals of the week, analysed by former and current professional players.
A common argument that is made about amateur soccer is that it represents the
purest form of the game. It is a bunch of people who play the sport for fun,
and the people involved are untouched by vast sums of money. There is a lot of
money invested in professional soccer. Just this summer a player was bought for
a world record fee of 94 million pounds. Sponsors offer millions to have their
logos on the uniforms. But, as revealed not too long ago, there is also a lot
of corruption in the professional world of soccer, and a lot of bureaucracy.
In Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Henry Jenkins
discusses reality TV. While the show is produced by professionals, the subjects
involved are amateurs. With shows like American
Idol, there is even fan participation through votes. Fans now feel they are
participating in the subjects rise from being an amateur to becoming famous.
That is the biggest pull from the show, that the amateur can make it big and
become a professional.
“Looking at the audiences of
reality television from the vantage point of program producers and advertisers.
In this way, we will come to understand how entertainment companies are
reappraising the economic value of fan participation.” (pg. 58, Jenkins)
Works Cited:
1. Clay Shirky, Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable
2. Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide
3. Mashaal Mil, Would the media have covered the tragedy if Twitter didn’t exist, and what would have happened if the murderer was Muslim?, The Independent
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