Journalism: An Evolving IndustryMoving to the Digital WorldBY HANNAH MONTGOMERY

Most people think that journalism is a dying industry. In the dog-eat-dog world that is media, journalism has not died. It has evolved.

Reaching the AudienceThe New York Times Gender Initiative Instagram account (@nytgender) posted its first picture on April 3, 2018. “Why not go where they already are?” said Sharon Attia, Social Media Editor for the Gender Initiative. Part of the Gender Initiatives goal is to produce more content about women, gender and culture. The other part is to expand the readership of The Times, so the team put themselves where the typical Times readers are not. According to Francesca Donner, Director of the Gender Initiative, the typical Times readership is made up of old white men. Based on branching out from traditional readership, using Instagram was a good move – 31 percent of Instagram users, as of January of 2018, were people between ages 18 and 24, followed closely by people ages 25 – 34, who account for 30 percent of Instagram users, according to Statista.

NYC Media students and Professor Patti Newberry outside The New York Times. Photo by Doug Newberry

Another problem media outlets, specifically news publications, have had with reaching wide audiences is the decline in circulation – people are not as inclined to go out and buy a magazine or pick up a physical newspaper as they once were. This has forced some publications, like The Village Voice, to publish online only. For other, newer organizations, the decline in print is not

affecting them. The Daily Beast is a news website that launched in 2008. Its content has never touched paper. Noah Shachtman, Editor in Chief of The Daily Beast acknowledged the importance of meeting people where they are, and as part of that, The Daily Beast has stopped creating material specific to Facebook, a social media platform that has seen a decline in user engagement recently, according to the Pew Research Center.

Keeping UpIn an age dominated by streaming services, appointment television is on its way out. People do not want to wait until 8 o’clock to watch their favorite shows when thousands of TV shows and movies are at their fingertips using major streaming services like Hulu and Netflix. Brian Stelter, host of “Reliable Sources” on CNN, pointed out that the challenge the media field faces, especially entertainment, is the push from live to on-demand streaming, “We need to reach people the way they want to be reached,” Stelter said. This day and age, the way people want to be reached is determined by how much they are inconvenienced to get what they want.

With The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of Fox, NYC Media guests Greta Morris, Production Associate at 20/20, and Molly Berecca, Publicity Assistant for Disney ABC Television Group, said that most of the jobs lost with the acquisition were in TV. They also mentioned that some teams were moving to the streaming business. The Walt Disney Company also owns ESPN, which launched their own streaming service, ESPN+, in 2018. In late 2019, Disney is set to launch another streaming service, Disney+, which will contain Disney, Marvel, Pixar, National Geographic and Star Wars content.

ABC News wall art. Photo by Hannah MontgomeryThe FutureMany news outlets have embraced the digital movement, partially because they cannot survive without digital integration. “You can’t really be an analog person in a digital media world,” said Beth Stebner, Editorial Recruiter at Hearst Digital. Hearst, like many other publications, has recently integrated print and digital content. According to Bowdeya Tweh, Spot News Editor at The Wall Street Journal, changes in the media all together have forced The Wall Street Journal to bring changes, like having podcast, photo and video teams, because that’s what the people want. The Wall Street Journal, like many major publications and journalism all together, is not

dying, it is evolving to keep up with the demands of the people. The only way to ensure a future in this industry is to adapt.