CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Technological advancement has facilitated adjustments in organisational behaviour and professional practices. In media organisations, the digitisation of news production processes has engendered changes in journalistic practices. Due to this dynamism, media practitioners are compelled to adapt digital media tools to the traditional ways of gathering and disseminating news. The 21st century has been marked by a rapid proliferation of communication technologies that use the Internet to allow people to be constantly connected. The contemporary media landscape is constantly changing and evolving as new technologies, new platforms give birth to new formats, new genres and new forms of participation. Content that was available only on radio, on television, or at newsstands is now just a click away. These fundamental changes have taken place not only on the journalistic field but also in newsrooms, whether broadcast or print.
Digital media tools like blogs, mobile devices, QR Codes, podcasts, social networking sites, RSS feeds, Social Bookmarking, Webcasts, Widgets, which are aided by the Internet, have taken away the hitherto exclusivity of the print and broadcast media to decide what to publish or broadcast. “These technologies represent media convergence or the consolidation of media into fewer devices” (Waxman, 2012:1). Journalists, likewise, make use of these tools to gather background information as well as story leads, thereby foregoing traditional ways of library research.
In order to meet up with the trend of being the first to break the news, many mainstream media houses now have online news websites. Editors/Producers task their reporters to provide news stories and updates as they break. It has, therefore, become a necessity for news organisations to have representation on multiple platforms. Many journalists rely heavily on social media to both check breaking news, and to monitor what other news organisations publish; as well as, to verify information and to interview sources. The new media has seemingly eased efforts which journalists put into gathering information. The new media has kept journalists more engaged with their audiences, facilitated faster reporting, reduced workload and improved productivity. As a result of the highly competitive news business environment, media convergence is inevitable. Straubhaar and LaRose cited in Anim (2013) argue that the conversion of all media to computer readable forms is what drives the convergence of the mass media. Due to digital technology, all media have converged on the Internet, resulting in disruption of status quo patterns of news gathering, processing and dissemination.