Let technology plot the path forward
By Ebony Reed, Reynolds Journalism Institute
Like many others who grew up during the glory days of newspapers, I must say I never envisioned the kind of innovations that technology has brought to journalism, like AR/VR, drones and artificial intelligence bots writing stories. Most of my chats with industry friends these days center on these topics, and it seems those conversations have become more frequent since the start of the year, when we've seen the elimination of thousands of news jobs, not to mention threats of hostile company takeovers and lots of general uncertainty.
Fortunately for us, in these uncertain times, futurists give us scenarios we can use to try to predict how technology might impact journalism's future. But the present is less clear, and anyone who says they know what should be done at the moment isn't being honest. At best, we can only guess what skills we'll need to cope with this ever-changing landscape.
With that in mind, I've decided to share some of the suggestions I've given friends about how to proceed forward, suggestions I've cultivated after nearly two decades in the industry.
