What’s your journalism prediction for 2011?
It’s nearly December and already it feels like the New Year is nearly upon us!
Time to prepare for the usual barrage of “best of 2010” and “predictions of 2011” posts from every blogger and every magazine in the land. And right here, it’s no different!
Except, as fans of the blog will know, I like to do it in video.
Last year’s film went down a storm, so I’m busy putting together my top trends for 2011. This time, though, I’m looking for your help.
What’s your prediction for what will happen in journalism in 2011?
Last year we talked about paywalls, hyperlocals and new startups. Next year – who knows? Data visualisation? Kinetic Typography? More whistleblowing?
After running through my top 10 predictions at lightning pace, I will select the 11th prediction from the comments in this blog post. So get thinking, and get suggesting. Surprise me! Intrigue me!
You have until Friday 10th December 2010 to post your ideas in the comments section below. I’ll select the most interesting, unusual or clever prediction to end this year’s film!
Adam Westbrook // ideas on digital storytelling and publishing 
I predict the rise of paid for exclusive content a la tabloid paywalls. There’s been a conspicuous lack of comment on the NOTW paywall so far compared with the Times BUT so far so good – guess we all need our dose of dirt and are prepared to pay for it 😉 I also predict a rise in partnerships between content producers and platform owners eg Murdoch and Jobs for starters.
Innovation will still come mainly from small businesses and individuals as the main digital publishers are still coming to terms with the fact that their organisation and structure were set up for print publishing and not for change.
Paywalls will be introduced by more and more companies, along with applications for mobile/tablets – both are seen as ‘simple’ solutions for the problems facing print publishing, but neither is going to be sustainable for most companies.
More journalists will start experimenting with self-publishing and hyperlocal journalism as a result of redundancy and a lack of hiring.
Content farms will continue to grow for next year – from Demand Media, to AOL, Yahoo and even WordPress.
Interpreting data will grow, although visualisations have probably peaked – there’s only so many infographic specialists that can be supported at any one time.
Wikileaks may give rise to some alternative whistleblowing sites as it continues to come under fire from governments and some of it’s own volunteers.
Some notable successes will happen for people with new and innovative ideas, and we’ll start to see more ‘celebrity’ self-publishing journalists with a serious following and decent income – at which point it’ll encourage more people to give it a go, and the inevitable realisation that only the top 20% or so generally earn enough….
In 2011 we will see journalist who want to break into mainstream media in particular students start to report the news and take part in the media, by creating themselves as brands and standing out. Also there will be more joint ventures as far as blogs are concerned. The birth of a bubble of an online community of journalist.
More self publishing and the rise of the celebrity among journalist mostly those that are online and in print.
OK – here’s my two tips for next year based in part on some trends we are seeing and in part in what I would like to see happen…
1. Ushahidi comes of age – This crowdsourcing platform has already made a big impact this year, particularly in the aftermath of Haiti when I think journalists really began to realise its potential. It inspired the Guardian’s Papal Visit map and now the Ushahidi developers are spending time with Guardian reporters. I think this partnership will deliver some exciting stuff next year. Personally I think this could be really interesting for foreign reporting, bringing different global perspectives and on the ground reports into mainstream media – all helped of course by the rise of mobile technology.
2. The continued rise of NGO journalism and a big player NGO setting out as a news provider in their own right– perhaps the first Oxfam news website or iphone/ipad news app– combining all the content they already have, on youtube, blogs, flickr together with their expertise, to create a functioning news website on development/foreign issues. MSF’s Critical Condition website demonstrated the potential of what NGOs can deliver and how authenticity can be more important than independence…
I predict a big rise in collectivism. Particularly amongst photographers moving into filmmaking.
Sort of just a continuation of Katherine’s second point, but the rise of journalism within non-traditional workplaces as the traditional ones continue to struggle to find a way to fund their journalism. NGO journalism like Katherine said can be one of these things.
One thing that I’d love to see happen would be the rise in employers willing to take on graduates that are evidently lacking in newsroom experience but know a wealth of new digital journalism skills that their more experienced hacks lack. However this is most likely wishful thinking.
It will be all about how people are getting jobs in journalism. With the university budget cuts, it will be interesting to see how creative the people who aspire to work in the industry can be when it comes to getting a job in journalism without a degree. That is, of course, if the cuts go ahead.
I did not type in all of my blog address.
Great suggestions so far guys, thanks very much! Some people have been tweeting their ideas too – here’s a selection from the past couple of days:
@880Metzeler: “More combined video and print”
@DavidClinchNews: “Entrepreneurial journalism startups collaborate with traditional news Orgs”
@sgaisie: “I def agree! Collaborating with trad news orgs is part of the model of something I’m launching in ’11”
@luciebean: “More options for journalism jobs in 2011”
Hyperlocal taking over where local newspaper journalism left off. Hyperlocal is by now means new, but I think the bloggers will take advantage of the new revenue streams left behind by shut down papers. 2011 will be the year we see a major financial success from hyperlocal. With people not just making money from their blogs – but a fair bloody bit of money.
You’ll see the beginning of the new web, where there’ll be a lot of free superficial stuff wrapped in aggressive advertising and then the more calm, in-dept quality web where you’ll pay for content. Just like the music industry where it now is so easy and cheap to pay for music you’ll see the same with quality journalism.
I predict that you will want to come to do a talk to budding and fresh-faced journos and cynical hacks at East Coast Media in Grimsby in January entitled ‘working as a journalist in the brave new world’
C’est une si merveilleuse ressource utile que vous fournissez et vous donner gratuitement absent de la charge. J’aime voir les sites web qui comprennent l’importance de fournir une ressource de qualité utile et gratuite. Il s? L’ancienne ce qui se passe autour de revient programme.