The "Future of News"

Almost a decade ago, I was taking a media values class. A big topic was convergence, and how things would be coming together in the future in various ways.
Those days certainly have arrived. Looking back at 2000-2001, people were infatuated with the online world, and did spend some time reading news articles on their computers. But bandwidth was much more limited back then, and it was pretty unheard of to think about getting news through a video game console or cell phone.

As of 2009, media convergence has been a mainstay for a while, and yes, you can not only read news, but listen to and watch it just about anywhere. Podcasts are becoming blase, and full video with interactive graphics is available on PDA phones, laptops, and netbooks.

With all this technology comes a certain trade-off. Stories seem more rushed to print, and "print" itself is fading fast, being replaced by 1s and 0s, as physical media shrinks at an alarming pace. News-as-entertainment has been on the rise, with cable news staples CNN and Fox News putting out comedy-laced bits with celebrity commentaries obviously meant to rival E! and VH1 programming.

Personalization also is a big hit, with people able to select specific types of content to be spoon-fed to them when, where, and how they want it. Social networking spreads stories, and "citizen reporting" captured on camera phones and other devices make airtime on big networks.

Shows anchored by people with strong views and personalities are popular.

So, where is this all going?

It would seem that these trends will increase, for better or worse. Bloggers will keep blogging, social networks will go through periods of growth, corporate buyouts, and stagnancy, followed by re-invention. Media conglomerates will seek ways to turn garage-founded innovations into profitable ventures that barely resembe their original form and function. Media will possibly become so personalized that meaningful stories outside of someone's stated interests may end up more likely to be overlooked. People will watch blocks of programming alternating between news and opinion without knowing the difference. Government will meddle with free speech as it re-casts the Fairness Doctrine as stating that radio "must serve the public good" while not defining what that paradigm exactly means (probably whatever the current administration feels).

For all the "convergence", media is, and will still be, quite fractured.