What About the ‘Gram: A Response to Kenzie Smith’s “Multimedia Journalism: How We See The Story”

By Sarah Westrick | 11 November 2019

It’s no secret that Smith is correct. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center shows that print newspaper circulation has decreased by as much as 13% since the mid 2000s. Meanwhile, overall digital circulation is up by 17%. Even more impressively, views on New York Times articles have increased a whopping 27% since just last year. 

Multimedia consumed online is here to stay, that much is clear. But while photos, audio clips, interactive maps, and virtual reality are helping to enhance readers’ experiences of journalism, I’d argue that reach is far more important than gimik. News must infiltrate and adapt to the format of social media. While major news sites are right to focus their efforts online, members of  the younger generation are not always searching actively for current stories on a daily basis. I know this because I am still a teenager (as well as the youngest blogger on this site). When news broke about the death of Michael Brown and the subsequent outrage that followed it, I knew before my parents because posts littered my tumblr and twitter timelines, while they waited to see articles pop up in their online news subscriptions. 

While new tools and technology make articles more enticing, they must first attract readers there. In a culture that increasingly becomes faster paced and trains the brain to hold attention no longer than a few seconds, where the information is is arguably more important than what the information is. Smith talks about “expanding journalism beyond the text”, but short snip-its of text, a tweet or an instagram caption for instance, can relay a basic message about a breaking current event. Of course multimedia stories are important for comprehension, and of course journalists should continue to diversify their stories from simple text. There, I wholeheartedly agree with Smith. But if the main goal of journalism is to inform as many people about the facts, than news organizations must retain an active presence on social media sites and churn out quick shareable content, not just vye for the most creative VR map.

Appendix

Pew Research Center. Newspapers Fact Sheet. 2019. https://www.journalism.org/fact-sheet/newspapers/

Smith, Kenzie. Multimedia Journalism: How We See The Story. 2019. https://envhumanities.sites.gettysburg.edu/environmental-journalism/week-10/multimedia-journalism-how-we-see-the-story/