How can journalists stay relevant in a rapidly changing media landscape?

Digital skills are important but onsite reporting is more so. Otherwise journalists vanish from the public landscape. Digital is mobile. Mobile means you can use apps, databases, searches, maps and more while you are in the community.

Pay special attention to the information you find. "Interesting transitions" help a lot, but the veracity of the information can add a lot of value to your content.

Some ways to get started. - Keep a tab of all the digital media avenues that are being used. - And before diving into the platform, study the audience on the platforms, and technical know-how of the platform. - And plan your content according to the nature of these myriad digital platforms.

Strangely the analogy I draw upon is how a small (5 person) elite military unit operates, approaching a task as a problem, mapping it out in different ways. All of them have beyond traditional skills and individually deep specialisms. By 2030-40 the challenge for info gathering and delivery in the field may well involved an array of OSINT (advanced) and AI tools, with higher level social psychology and cultural skills. We're calling them media or journalism-hyphenates, based on the many related skills required.

Journalists are historically underpaid and overworked when employed by a newspaper, broadcast outlet or other communication venue. There is no time for a second job. However, freelance journalists require a paying job just to pay rent. In that case, they must diversify and consult, teach or design for other clientele.

Networking is core to reporting. Meeting people/sources from time and again will help you build a good rapport. And Linkedln plays a vital role for that, where you can connect with the experts in the industry you report on. Besides, if you are prompt on sharing your reports on Linkedln, it will also help you to cultivate sources on the platform.

Everything rises and falls on how you cultivate trust with friends, antagonists and your reading/non reading (thanks to social media) audience. And the process of getting trust starts from learning deeply about your craft, subjects and the issue at stake in every story. It takes time, it takes patience. But if you stick to it. Your audience will respect you for it, even they don’t always agree.

It's all too easy to get tripped up and compromised by letting down your guard with someone or some source you usually find trustworthy. Never stop reviewing with staff and students all the ways one can run afoul of the rules. At one news organization where I worked, management sent employees a copy of the company's ethics guidelines every year as we neared the end-of-year holiday season as a reminder about the policy against accepting gifts from sources, among other issues. I sometimes had students sign copies of their syllabi to confirm they read, reviewed and understood the rules of the road. I also reviewed segments of the policy throughout the semester to make sure they understood the review was not a one-off to be forgotten.

Journalists not only must possess their own personal code of ethics; they also must work for an outlet with high standards. At Iowa State University's Greenlee School, journalism majors create portfolios featuring their core values and then align them with corporations and outlets who share similar standards.

Make it a goal to read about and engage in conversations with colleagues about ethical issues in journalism on a regular basis. There is plenty of fodder out there. Great sources for thought-provoking pieces include the Poynter Institute and Neiman Journalism Lab.

Dedicate just 15 minutes a day to reading something for the sake of learning something new without a project directly tied to it. You might be surprised at how much you like this new habit -- and how much it serves to expand your ability think critically about the projects you're currently working on.

Daily practice improves your proficiency and comfort level when you're trying something new. Take small bites for starters. For example, shoot photos and short video segments of ordinary things every day, then edit them to see how close you are to the outcome you envisioned or hoped to capture. Reshoot or re-edit to see how close you are at nailing the image(s) you want. Perfect practice makes perfect.

Ich bin inzwischen seit über 20 Jahren Journalistin. Die Branche hat sich in dieser Zeit unglaublich ver?ndert. Online-Journalismus war in meiner Anfangszeit noch ein Nischenthema und wurde von vielen traditionellen Journalisten bel?chelt. Das sind heute oft die Kolleg:innen, die auf der Strecke bleiben. Kaum eine Branche bietet so viele M?glichkeiten. Wir müssen sie nur nutzen und bereit sein, immer wieder zu lernen.

Choose a beat and build up a niche that's lacking in the media ecosystem, especially as it relates to local news. Build up your knowledge of the issues, its key players, etc. Always be on the cusp of new issues and develop a rapport with people in the grassroots. All of this, with solid newswriting at the foundation, will forever make you relevant as a journalist. Nothing, not even social media, can replace solid newswriting and newsgathering.

If you focus only on the next tool, the next gimmick and the next platform, you’ll be forever stuck catching up. Read philosophy and psychology. Read books. Learn about emotions. Start a story by imagining how you want your audience to feel (outraged? Sympathetic?) and build it from there