To scroll or not to scroll?

I spend way too much time on my phone.

There's nothing particularly surprising in that statement -- after all, I'm a 21-year-old student journalist; half of my responsibilities require me to scroll on social media. That doesn't make me feel any better about it, though.

It's an interesting, and admittedly, frightening time to be entering the journalism industry. There's so much uncertainty about what the future looks like, though we do know that journalism cannot survive in its current form.

Broadcast news in particular feels as if it's at a crossroads. There is still an appetite for visual storytelling -- and there will always be an appetite for the truth. Social media has polluted the ways that we can find verifiable information online. With the ability for anyone with a phone to easily record and publish content, I believe there is also a growing desire for journalism to evolve.

I still remember seeing the news that President Donald Trump had been the target of an assasination attempt. Within minutes, video from attendees had spread across the internet, but so too had misinformation and conspiracy theories. Good modern-day journalism has to cut through the chatter, utilizing the internet's ability to disseminate information while still following the practices that makes journalism what it is.

Stopping the swipe

There's more power than ever in the hands of the consumer. In the Cronkitian days of broadcast news, viewers were subjected to whaterver was being broadcast. In the era of social media, if something isn't interesting enough, a swipe is all it takes to move on to something more entertaining. So how can we as journalists continue to deliver information while also keeping people interested?

A lot of it boils down to being real. There's a definite difference in relatabilty between the anchors you see on your nightly newscast and your favorite influencer -- and for good reason! For so long, journalists were meant to evoke a sense of authority in how they presented themselves, but now, a successful journalist is one that can both command the screen and come off as a real person.

Responding to comments, reacting to trends, and putting out similar content to the kind you consume is paramount -- after all, if you wouldn't watch it, why would anyone else?

Evolving with the unknown

I am by no means an expert in posting on social media, but I don't necessarily think you have to be in order to be successful. You have to be honest, accessible, and, just like any journalist, accurate.

As much as we like to hem and haw about the decline of journalism, I really do think that we'll be just fine. There is always going to be an audience for people who can talk about what is happening in their communities in an engaging way. In a sense, platforms like TikTok are perfect for the next phase of journalism. You can find, source, and tell stories all in the same spot.

I don't know what the industry will look like in five, much less ten years, but I do know that being ready to embrace the unknown while keeping the core tenets of journalism close won't hurt -- right?