NEW MEDIA, NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND PRINT JOURNALISM: CHANGING JOURNALISTIC PRACTICES IN THE CONVERGENT ERA Changing Journalistic Practices in the Convergent Era

Abstract

In this era of technological and media convergence, the role of journalists has undergone a profound evolution. Today, cyberspace breaks the news, thereby altering the ways journalists’ source and disseminate news stories. New Media and social media platforms are potential tools for journalists as well as news organizations for building identity and maintaining relations with audiences. This has resulted in most news organizations initiating their online presence to maintain their position in the competitive news market. This exerts a huge influence on the way journalists do their routine work. The extent to which journalists’ have integrated the use of information and communication technologies in their professional practices, therefore, need to be ascertained. This paper is based on the technological determinism theory, which argues that the communication technology that is prevalent in any age determines the way people of that society think and believe. The digital technology has influenced journalism, evolving the working practices of media professionals. Today, the conventional print journalism converges with the contemporary New Media to enhance its news practices. This is in accordance with the media morphosis theory which states that already existing institutions unify with the changes brought by technology. The paper focuses on two aspects, changing professional practices of journalists and the development of convergent newsrooms in this digital age. Through interviews and survey conducted among journalists from the state of Assam in Northeast India, the paper tries to assess how the New Media and new communication technologies have influenced the role of journalists in the context of media convergence.