Thursday, October 13, 2016

Mass Amateurization

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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