Speed skyrockets

Speed of dissemination and rate of feedback from audiences has sparked need for journalists to be more responsive and alert in their trade.

Technology has opened a new front of journalism with citizens now empowered than ever to actively contribute news and even set agenda for the media.

According to a study by ‘Internews Europe’ titled The Promise of Ubiquity-Mobile as a Media Platform in the Global South, growth of mobile phone reach could be  a threat to traditional media, just as the Internet has been—and on a larger scale in developing countries.

The study predicts mobile telephony to be the world’s first universal communications platform— one that is getting there faster than anyone expected. Its major path of growth, reveals the study, is now in the global South, where the mobile is not just a phone but a global address, a transaction device, and an identity marker for hundreds of millions of poor people.

“This holds unprecedented opportunity formed in developing countries to engage their core audiences more deeply, reach new audiences on the edge of their current footprint, and provide interactive and customised information services that are both profitable and life-improving,” reads the study in part.

If media doesn’t address the mobile as a viable information platform, the study warns, others will, and within the space of a few years media players will have lost a large measure of their market share, ‘mind share’, and standing in society at large.

Book reveals

In his book, "Couch Potatoes Sprout: The Rise of Online Community Journalism, Jack  Driscoll, former top editor of the Boston Globe predicts a shift that would destabilize the modus operandi in the media scene.

" There  is quiet revolution by a new breed of communicators who are taking advantage of new electronic tools that enable their voices to be heard," no matter where they are or what field they've worked in before, reads  the book, a 163-page tutorial published last year, in part.

It's a revolution that ignites memory of how far the media has come.

Gone are the days when editors wielded power of determining how the news should flow. Today, citizens have been known to out speed journalists and media houses in sending news to the world. Think of twitter, a short messaging system which interconnects millions of people world wide and YouTube which allows sharing of videos at a touch of a button.

There are also bloggers or just people with Internet connection who find themselves capturing news on cell phone cameras and sharing it the world over.

According to experts, online journalism is now overtaking television and radio in terms of speed and scope.

This has seen media groups now investing intensively on online platforms to avoid being sent into oblivion.

Driscoll demystifies the news gathering process arguing that with technology you don't need to have studied or even worked in journalism to make a contribution and reconnect people to their communities.

"People have something to offer because they are part of the wisdom of the community…they are people that care about the community and want to make a contribution but don't want to run for office," he argues.