The Future of Journalism Is Interactive

Imagine that one day, you are watching the news and you felt compelled to yell at the TV.  What would you do if the TV shouted back? I would be stunned and surprised.  I imagine that newspapers and other print media were shocked when readers started talking back in real-time.

Interactive forms of communication enable and encourage a two-way conversation. Newspapers can only post a small number of the letters to the editor that they receive.  Talk show hosts can only take so many prescreened calls due to time constraints. Blog comments, traditional social networks, and hybrid services like Twitter and Facebook are allowing a higher level of interaction between reporters, publishers, and readers.

A new frontier lies at the crossroads of advancing technology and diminishing journalism.  I use the word diminishing to emphasize that the quality, quantity, and depth of traditional journalism are in steep decline.  We are entering an age where the giants of yesterday are becoming hollow brand names that lack a robust institutional memory.  

In an uncertain future, there is hope for those who can do more with less. A laptop computer and a digital camera act as force multipliers allowing a single reporter or a small team to do the work of an entire newsroom. Multimedia toolkits enhance the firepower of online journalists.

Interactive media, if done right, may serve as a bridge to a profitable all-digital future. Besides making the impact of stories more real, interactivity can serve as the foundation of a new business model for news that actually works.