Remember those big pieces of paper, sold in shops, which contained news, entertainment and sports? Called a newspaper? Yes, people today still have access to newspapers but how long will it be before people are asking those questions? The newspaper has been in steady decline for a number of years, and with the News of the World being shut down because of the phone hacking scandal after 168 years of circulation; and other Murdoch papers also at risk of closure from the same scandal; the British press is disappearing from the shelves. Not all hope is lost though, thanks to the new digital technologies being introduced into society, and the essential element they have in common, the internet.
The internet has allowed the news organisations to make the move to digital saving the titles from extinction and allowing them to compete with the internet news that was already available. As well as being helpful to the news organisations themselves, their move to the internet has also helped the PR professionals, instead of having churned out press releases in the newspapers, the internet versions can contain links, to the client’s website, social networks and blogs, meaning that the PR professionals are given more coverage than they used to thanks to the internet. From a journalism point of view, the new digital technology has seen the use of consumer shot footage from mobile cameras, a part of ‘citizen journalism’. The internet also has a level of immediacy which means that instead of having to wait for their news the public can access it as soon as it happens.
Other technology developments such as ‘apps’ on mobile phones and tablets, such as the iPad have opened the doors of the internet to be accessible on the go. People are able to tweet their every movement, share the world through their eyes by uploading pictures on the move, they can ‘check in’ to places so people are aware of where they have been/ are. Although these seems like a great development in the world, and from a technological view they are, however, the boundaries of privacy and genuine online content are being broken down as people are revealing every unnecessary detail about their lives. This makes the sincere articles and opinions of people have to fight for the attention of the public, this being the missed feature of the newspaper as the content published was, often, reliable, with some exceptions. Reliable content is now harder to find due to these technological advances.
They do, however, play a part in PR success, with the internet accessible at all times it is easy for the PR people to update social network pages constantly, not allowing them to go cold and interest to fade. Also as mentioned above, links are easier to spread and easier to access by a wider audience, spreading the client’s message further.
The challenge for the PR professionals is to keep up with these technologies and be one step ahead at all times: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_zgJrTMyb8 a quick video from a PR person giving her opinions on new technology and PR in 45 seconds, and another that is similar just to highlight the points above: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRDyuM0GIxg&feature=relmfu .
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