I probably spend far too much time justifying my existence as a journalist to people who expect me to be in a far more secure employment sector – whatever that is at the moment? The business of journalism continues through the compulsory redundancies, post closures and mergers. Whilst those of us tasked with explaining the world are left to navigate between multiple newsrooms being multi-tasking super heroes. That being said, I should not complain too much as opportunities are around, one just has to know when to seize them!

The biggest issue facing journalism is the fragmentation of news organisations. Before mainstream companies could command the attention of millions of people, now with all of the choice, old business models are no longer viable, thereby journalism has to be produced as cheap as possible. On a consumer level, most people seem to enjoy not really understanding what the alternative voting system was all about but rather that another celebrity is getting married or having babies.

Even with the hundreds of different news sites online, actual real stories have been in decline. Most news is manufactured either by professional company’s communication departments or other public relations professionals.  So paying for all of those sites is crazy and we should not be too sad that certain lame ducks are falling by the wayside rather than being propped up.

It seems like a lot of us fail to realise that journalism is not just an individual activity but a set of frameworks, rights and privileges. In order for journalism to be understood in the future, we journalists need to understand the space in which we are operating in. The space is where journalism and technology intersect.

The answer could be network journalism and reporting, managing multi-media projects and not just telling stories but using the tools for conversations. The value of network journalism is vital when other forms/channels of communication are being closed down by the gatekeepers of information.

The audience wants authenticity so let’s build more critical online projects and move away from telling people stories without trying to explain what is going on, or using so called experts to argue on things to justify an argument we reporters already had.

We are living in the golden age of journalism where there is space for everyone. The odd historic process has broken down with the democraticisation of the news process. No longer are huge events being reduced to the experience of one person, there is now a global village transmitting information across the internet.

The public need to be given the opportunity to experience journalism by working out the story with the journalist to find out what is happening together. We can work out the way forward together to share the value of the information, thus enhancing the human understanding of the world in which we live. Let’s make it happen!