Is Journalism Still a (Good) Business (In Digital Era) ?
I want to apology to all collague, relatives, and partner who will disrupted with this blog. But i feel i have to share something profound related with the phenomenon of digital shifting that surrounds our physical civilization, especially on journalism.
Journalism (Yesterday)
As i know, journalism is a “bridge” . Journalism, in my belief, is the neutral entity that could engage connection between stakeholder of “moment maker”. Journalism is also “hemisphere” that make dot of connection became “shape of understanding”.
The journalist itself, on its journey, will attached with “direct knowledge” and “unconscious knowledge” that will let them to another level of capabilities in drives issues to the public.
The impact from what journalist produce is not only on the issues that have became “public”, but also on how public responding the issues in their lives, as responsiveness, systemic change, or even could become massive transformation in large area (regional, international).
Journalism in Present
On this short blog, i will share my experience while facing the shifting of digital journalism, through 2003–2019.
Just for info, in Indonesia, the concept of online journalism have been started to establish in mid 90’s, just a few year before reformation era started. The main problem on that era is not about the content, or regulation. The most problem were in infrastructure of internet network, specifically on “port” and “container”. The problem goes parallel with the challenge in how journalism became more clustered in producing content.
Journalism (Tomorrow)
As i know, in the next phase of digital civilisation, journalism is part of “social engineering” to connect or to bridging once or more entities to become connected and could share the values together and could shaped the civilisation. Tho, journalism are build by lot of understanding and causalities that made journalism could be neutral in functional accountable circumstances. Circumstance that build by accountable entities and slice of intention by stakeholder of entities, who were in a process to acknowledge themselves as identities.
Journalism more specifically are movement, it is not a business as usual, as people doing a barter or do a transaction in direct activities.
Accountable stakeholder should build on an openness and responsible intention to the making of humanize and strengthen the bond of social connections.
In the era of money were not a main part of major economy variables, accountability were more became one of strong element that made civil societies have strong bond. It will be easy to ruin personal branding, either wise, it is impossible to ruin personal accountability without being traced. Damaging individual accountabilities will affect damaging the systems that bonds the individual intention.
The Shifting
There are basic transformation happen in defining the role of journalism in civil society. Journalism will be an axiom. Journalism are not only became the entity who bridging inter civil society to attached one another with the spirit of -we called- cover both side journalism. It’s more than bridging.
Journalism could became the leader to bridging civil society into accountability. The systems of journalism will more bigger than just become “the professionals”, or play just only being part of economic and service stakeholder. Journalist should be more agile and deep in their role to shaping the content. Journalist should deep into the deeper side of “ice berg” to avoid the algorithm of society that sometimes made product from journalist were not sharp and clear.
Yes. Journalist will have to became activist, the entity who agile, and actively bond another entities includes who tend to set the identity, to transform the issues not only become noticed and viral. The issues that will produce by journalist will have profound function in systems. Journalist could reset and replace the issues into precise accupunture point in systems transformation. The product of journalism will have dimension, not only context, but also as measurable form, and being part of civil society’s constant, not only algorithm.
The constant of civil society are accountability and literacy. Accountability have dimension, and could create containers that called state of knowledge and will always need literation systems to works and valuable in any time and moment.
Journalism are shifting, from spectrum of professionalism, to spectrum of agent for movement and transformation. Journalist naturally should becoming activist, and data analyst by natural calls, and with the skill of journalism, they can shaped the network, the intention, and data, to become “warm medium (data-group-connector)” and could be part of acupuncture point in a systems.
The Algorithm Trap
Basic of algorithm were not about pattern, or interconnection of differences. Algorithm started by how we define 0. The base point. Let’s imagine into our daily activities, it’s similar feel with phrase “share location, please. I’m on the way…” when we’re in chit chat and using google map to confirming our conversation into the factual level.
Journalism had all variables to produce objective result, and had been witness for civil transformation around the world, especially from 19th’s century. The next phase of digital transformation is not about to change the variables of objectivities in journalism. The next phase is about journalism will work as “racing line” if we applied in sport environment. Racing line to set the civilisation could back into its digital nature: accountable, transparent, and interconnected. When all in track, it makes the medium always warm and ready to use.
To make journalism as a “racing line”, the stakeholder of journalism have to exercise themselves, and doing lot of “personal hack” to regrowing the “un-cracked” systems. Personal hack is also like re-mapping the ECU in car. Re-mapping is not always about create a wider spectrum of power, but also customise the systems so could have best response in a race moment.
The trap were always came from inner-systems. The outsider is only trigger, and… the essence of algorithm is not about map, but intention. To avoid the trap, is not by creating another algorithm. To avoid the trap, we look back to the mirror, and find our future in the mirror. The mirror could be another systems, or another constant that grows from our ‘new default — hacked- personality”.
The (Dancing) Floor
As entity that all of our activities were related with gravity, civilisation always have connection with its ground. Lot of term can be hold for defining ground. The most phrase that could fit in lot of variables of thinking are…that we’re naturally stuck in a really strong stream.
I think it is not about attached to the stream, gravity is (always become) reminder if we’re in dimension of thought and unconsciousness. Especially if we’re in collective and co-relate with others entities. The gravity lead us to set the area for setting our root, and the most profound is, finding our “source”. I profoundly believe, that gravity is a tool of consciousness.
We need The Floor. The side of dimension that we can set the shape of objectivity. We know context could be the started point to write. In this case (digital era), context could be arranged by social algorithm, and the floor could become representation of “new-start point” to maintain objectivity and idealism as journalist.
The Rule of Consciousness
As tool for maintaining consciousness, gravity converts entities to countable parts, or in bigger spectrum, convert entities to have volume and dimension. Consciousness were always attached with dimension. Dimension of space, time, and kind of dimension that could be counted.
Journalism as accountable entities, should take part as stakeholder of shaping dimension of civilisation, creates reminder to “always on track”, and re-setter to civilisation to always have the most highest level in consciousness when put remark on history. Journalism could become accountant of civilisation, especially in mapping the emerging moment that could be made by accountable civil society.
The Mind and Machine
The digital era made humanity in the most valuable nor devastated era. The fragile situation that “nature selection” works very well. In other side, mind and machine were became in the same spectrum of production chain. Both of them could be “trapped” on algorithm, the social algorithm, or digital algorithm, or both.
The differences between mind and machine in the digital era mostly on the egality in bargaining and connecting power. The stakeholder on digital era have ability in creating simulation and scenario to solve artificial situation and several natural situation. In the future, when plasma and gene could be mapped more massively, the pattern could be a new data that affected the nature itself.
Where are journalism on this “data-bargaining” era? I think journalism always be journalism, because journalism in logical reason have no intention to bargain. Journalism were attached in all side (not only both). So, there’re situation that journalism will be the “dark matter” in space of digital bargaining era, or in nature symbolism, journalism were the basic element of nature: water and air.
New Form of Journalism in New Civilisation
Journalism are shifting into their best form. The best form for new civilisation (the era after tomorrow) were always become “the most adaptive entity”. That we’re all know from evolution theory.
The most adaptable journalism are the journalism who could set the moment, set the pattern, and set the respond in order to maintaining the collective consciousness on its track.
Journalist as derivation of journalism, were person who could set themselves as entity who have strong capabilities in adapting, calculating, and engaging moments. Build brick by brick, “brick of a moment” to perform. Yes. Momentum is another form of performances.