The Evolution of News Media Strategies

The Evolution of

News Media Reporting Strategies

Remember when your parents used to buy the newspaper daily to read or listen to the radio to listen to the headlines on current events? Or better yet, remember when you used to watch TV every night between 9:00 - 11:00 PM to catch the news broadcast for an update of all the exciting things that happened during the day? 

These days, journalists still spend the day collecting the news and packaging it into articles or radio and TV news shows for the public to consume, but the job doesn't stop there anymore. News media outlets have expanded their reach to social media, and as convenient as it is to offer the world short and easily-accessed headlines, old school journalists and newbies to the field need additional training based on all that is required to keep up with the evolution of news media reporting strategies. 

Once news packages are created, they have to be repurposed for social media. Take Atlanta's WSB-TV journalist, Kristen Holloway, for example. In her previous position with WREG in Memphis, TN, she attended the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. With the recent passing of John Lewis, this story became relevant again, so as WSB-TV reported on his legacy and gave updates about his funeral services, Holloway shared the memory to her WSB Twitter profile, while also publishing an online article about the recent visitors to the mural of John Lewis in Atlanta, GA.

As a millennial, Holloway likely didn't face a challenge of connecting the network story to her article and previous experience at the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, AL. But what about older journalists who might not be as technologically savvy?

We all have had experiences of helping a parent turn the TV to the right setting or showing them how to use a smartphone because they just can't figure it out. Do the Boomers in the media profession just become obsolete if they don't catch to technological advancements immediately? Whose job is it to train them to keep up? Do they just keep the desk jobs, while the digital responsibilities go to up and coming journalists?

The reality of the answers to all of those questions is that each individual journalist has to maintain the hunger to stay relevant as is common with news media in general. Each outlet wants to be the first to break a story. This eagerness has to also translate to being the first to learn how to create a social media profile and embedding an image or video into a tweet about an online article that is about a story that is being covered by the nightly broadcast.

If journalists of any age can maintain this ambition and master the necessary skills to keep up with the ever-changing technological advancements in news media, they'll have nothing to worry about other than deciding when to retire.