Twitter: The industrial revolution of journalism

You’re probably sick of hearing about it, but here I go anyway.

Many people think social media, especially Twitter, is becoming one of the new faces of journalism. While I agree it is shaping the way we approach our news, I ask: Who really wants it to be like this?

My evidence suggests no one really, so who’s pushing so hard to make it happen?
Last weekend, the two most interesting stories in two major newspapers were lengthy investigative pieces. The Globe and Mail reported on Canada’s role in peacekeeping and the Winnipeg Free Press broke a story on the effects of no running water in Manitoba reserves. I mustn’t be the only one taking interest in these types of stories because they both made the front page.

In addition, while filming an entertainment profile for school, I got into a discussion with one of the interviewees who was saying she hates how TV news stories have been cut down so much and how there are fewer and fewer feature stories and documentaries. Those are the one’s she’s interested in, she said. Sure, it’s tough, funding for these types of projects is tricky due to the magnitude of the expense. But isn’t it worth it? If journalists only ever report on what happened that day, whether it is in their papers or via Twitter, then aren’t we only ever keeping records of events. How can we change things if we don’t look into the roots of the issues?

One of the reasons why I wanted to become a journalist was to do so. Oftentimes, I feel like that’s discouraged nowadays.

Why are journalists always trying to move quicker and quicker to get the stories done faster and faster? How much faster can we work until quality is absent and quantity becomes everything…or are we already there?