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| A Xanga post |
Mass amateurization refers to the effects of Web 2.0 and new media on the general public’s ability to create, share, and distribute content. In a brief intro to Publish, Then Filter, Clay Shirky writes, “The media landscape is transformed, because personal communication and publishing, previously separate functions, now shade into one another.” This new media landscape has thrown long-standing media professions off balance as the lines between professional and amateur continue to blur. Shirky frames the mass amateurization challenge to traditional media in Everyone is a Media Outlet- “What happens when the costs of reproduction and distribution go away? What happens when there’s nothing unique about publishing anymore, because users can do it for themselves?”
In the case of the newspaper business (and the publishing businesses in general), the 21st century ability of anybody with internet connection to create and share content and information is particularly threatening to the professional. Because publishing (and information) are no longer scarce commodities, the “gatekeeping” function of the media no longer applies. Information wants to be free on the internet and traditional media can’t control that, for better and for worse. Synthesizing the flood of information and misinformation is up to the individual. Consumption of news has largely moved to the internet, and many young people are content to be informed with whatever articles and news are shared by their friends on Facebook and Twitter. These social media companies are now the biggest and most profitable distributors of online content, 100 percent of which is provided by the users. Since Facebook purchased Instagram for $1 billion in 2012, its value has grown to an estimated $50 billion.
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| New York Times paywall, via Cult of Mac |
Even the largest traditional news outlets are still struggling with the shift to making drastically reduced ad revenue for their online content work. The New York Times found unique success with a paywall that allows readers 10 free articles a month before asking them to subscribe. More than one million people are now subscribed to the digital edition. Fortune claims that widespread respect for the New York Times gives them leverage to charge readers, and Clay Shirky corroborates that it isn’t a model applicable to most other papers. All exist in a “24-hour news cycle” with unlimited competition from amateurs. These pressures, coupled with staffing cuts, have lowered standards in many newsrooms.
Without an institutional hierarchy controlling news, a “publish, then filter” approach to posting online prevails. News often enters public consciousness when many people are talking about the same thing- it rises to the surface from being shared in different communities, sometimes with the help of tagging and hashtagging. The competition for eyeballs is staggering when “We are living in the middle of the largest increase in expressive capability in the history of the human race,” says Shirky (Here Comes Everybody p. 106). But the eyeballs are not just consumers, and their interaction with professional journalists and producers is now essential. When news breaks, it is the people affected who break it first. Journalists today consult Twitter and other social media to find information, ask questions, and solve problems. More cameras and keyboards enhance the watchdog function of the public, and of journalism in turn.
The definition of a journalist has expanded in the digital age while being brought into question. Some bloggers, for example, can be considered journalists. But do they have to operate under traditional standards to have that title? The Drudge Report is an early (and surprisingly lasting) example of a successful news site started by an amateur. While Matt Drudge doesn’t follow the rules of traditional journalism, he has become a widely-read news source and a media semi-professional. Amateur journalists today also make the jump to institutions- Brian Stelter, now CNN’s senior media correspondent, sold his television news blog to Mediabistro while he was still an undergraduate and landed a job at the New York Times.
Henry Jenkins dedicates a chapter of his book Convergence Culture to the amateurization of the author, using Harry Potter as a case study. Fan fiction of the books has inspired thousands of young people to probe their imaginations and explore and develop writing. Jenkins makes the important point that schooling often stifles children’s imaginative impulses, and that fanfiction communities also collaborate and assist each other.
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| Embedded mobile articles, via Facebook |
They are a form of the participatory culture that interrupts and transforms not just the business of media, but all business- and Shirky writes that all businesses are effectively media businesses. He says the suffering of the media business is “prophetic,” the beginning of broader institutional restructuring. What shifts are the media trying to make now? Facebook partnered with nine major news outlets last year to embed entire news stories in their mobile app. Those publishers are lagging in mobile, but the partnership will likely help solidify Facebook as a primary news source for many people. It also removes the relationship of the newspaper to its readers. Producing content for a social media company could lead to ethical issues for journalists, and we will soon see the effects of putting access to news content in Facebook’s hands.
Works Cited:
1. Shirky, Clay, "Everyone Is A Media Outlet," in Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, (New York: Penguin, 2008) 55-80.
2. Shirky, "Publish, Then Filter," 81-108.3. Jenkins, Henry, "Why Heather Can Write," in Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, (New York: New York University Press, 2006
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