Samia Rahman
Journalism in Bangladesh is lively with newspapers, broadcasting and new media operations in both private and public sectors. Although printing media in Western world has declined recently, newspapers in Bangladesh are still thriving and playing a strong role in politics and society. There are hundreds of dailies in Bangladesh out of which a few dozens are substantial and significant publications. This indicates that newspapers remain an important element of journalism in Bangladesh. However, Y2K media boom in Bangladesh and growing expansion, availability and price drop of technology and internet has initiated extended use of new media among mass population of the country. Intensely new TV channels are in the business which made participation of audience both active and passive ways. What is happening in today’s daily life in terms of news broadcasting, sharing of content and participation in discussion for decision making and understanding the credibility of news content was not even close to imagination a decade back in Bangladesh. It is thus apparent now that the traditional concept of journalism is far beyond the printing media or even the broadcasting media. Rather, since journalism is taking a new shift globally and for a mass populated country like Bangladesh where journalism practice is rapid and demanding by the mass audience, it is clear that any major global shift in journalism will leave swift and positive impact on the way journalism is practised in Bangladesh in the coming future. So an interesting question to ask now will be what trends are going to be effecting our media culture these days and how will journalism look like in 10 years? I would say smart print publications will realise that their online strategies are seriously tanking. Ad relevance and revenues are not significant or targeted enough. Citizen journalism has it beat hands down for three pretty compelling reasons: captures the long tail of content (instead of one-sized fits all journalism) it is emotional and personal, and speaks in a human language and user interfaces which reflect individuality and personalisation. This introduces the keyword and concept of ‘‘Journalism 3.0’’ -- which according to me means an improvement of user-centred design, interface and different social functions. Mobility and modularity are going to be two major trends of this kind of journalism. Of course mobile is making its way into, but I think this need to go way beyond the information delivery function. Recent trend in smart phone and tablet device in Bangladesh has rooted and initiated a big prospect of content delivery and sharing. New devices coming to market within two years’ time period will show the concept of ‘‘Phablet’’ that is a device capable of working as phone or tablet will introduce more powerful mobile opportunities to mass population.
Mass customisation in the form of dashboards which reflect particular niches and geographies will be the next best thing happening to journalism world. Since the world is going global news from across the pond and the land of the rising sun are equally important and relevant. The proliferation of small video pods that are easily accessible and stream smoothly on numerous platforms (even old machines) is critical to creating micro-content that interests users. Crowd sourcing the creation of newspaper content, particularly in the area of video is an option and there are even several platforms which will edit video for a moderate price, rather than having to hire a ton of videographers on staff. With the competitive price of IT labour in Bangladesh, this is just a matter of time to happen. While user generated content will soon play a large role in Bangladesh journalism field this will apparently decrease the duplication in stories so networks can cover a diversity of interesting and relevant local and human interest stories. Use of smart TV will be very popular in this decade in Bangladesh since their prices are dropping quickly in global market. These TVs are connected directly in to internet with the ability to browse directly which will create a big shift in how people will read news on TV. Journalism in Bangladesh will thus focus into creating more application to let mass population access towards these smart devices. It is clear that when the devices are changing, people are learning to use new design quickly and the prices of these devices are dropping it will affect the way we produce and deliver contents. With the mass population driving in to this big paradigm shift, journalism will be forced to take a shift with the help of these technologies that are more appreciated by the massive users in populated Bangladesh.
Regardless of these factors the new trend of journalism will create new opportunity for journalists. So how will the journalists of future be? Let’s get the obvious ones out of the way first: the journalist of the future is a reporter, a video journalist, a photo-journalist, audio journalist and interactive designer, all-in-one. They will shoot and edit films, audio slideshows, podcasts, vodcasts, blogs, and longer articles. They may have one specialism out of those, but can go somewhere and cover a story in a multitude of platforms. They do not just do it because it potentially means more revenue; they do it because they love telling stories in different ways. And let’s get another thing straight: they still live and breathe the key qualities of journalism: curiosity, accuracy and a desire to root out good stories and tell the truth. The internet has shown that we are just not prepared to pay for general news, especially when someone else is giving it away for free. The decline in newsrooms killed off many correspondents and specialists, but the journalist of the future should know there are more money and more audiences in a niche. So they will become more of a specialist in some areas, or use a current specialism to build an audience around what they do. The journalists practising journalism 3.0 thus does not belong to the world of “fortress journalism”. They will not sit at their desk in a newsroom all day — in fact, they will work from home. They will use nodded working techniques to find collaborators for different digital projects; picking the most talented people from around the world. There are no office politics or long meetings.
The digital revolution which is still unfolding in Bangladesh has already had a number of impacts in our media and journalism. With some fancy use of social media, video conferencing and use of Web 2.0 functionalities in limited way, Journalism 2.0 is now visible now and then in Bangladesh. The shift from traditional journalism to journalism 2.0 took a long time for our society. But the shift from journalism 2.0 to journalism 3.0 is simply a matter of time only. We already see it has started happening. In the age of this mass participation thus the news making will be easier to make together with audiences. In the age of huge data available for us to use, easier tools to visualise the data will be required. And in the age of this mass information we will need to find and share investigative reporting easier. These factors are serious for Bangladesh in this rush hour of globalisation and glocalisation. These factors will take the present trend of journalism that is going on in Bangladesh towards a fluency in the new media across different platforms. I, therefore, am optimistic and see a more nimble, flexible entrepreneurial future for journalism in Bangladesh.
The writer is Associate Professor, Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Dhaka University, and Current Affairs and Program Editor, Ekattor Television. - See more at: http://www.daily-sun.com/details_yes_13-10-2013_Future-journalism-in-Bangladesh_644_5_39_1_29.html#sthash.GUSbQckr.dpuf