The digital transition has brought about profound changes in the way journalism is done: some compare it to the introduction of Gutenberg’s movable type. Younger generations are increasingly getting information from the Internet: Buying a newspaper is becoming more and more rare. Stefano Talliapresident of the Piedmont OdG, dives deeper in an exclusive interview for buonnotizie.it the state of digital journalism today.
In the future, we will move towards integration between paper and digital. Paper newspapers will increasingly be reserved for the in-depth section, while the immediate acquisition of news will be the privilege of digital. In other countries, where the process is more advanced and the digital transition started earlier than in Italy, it is moving in this direction.
Digital journalism: laws are needed
Digital journalism has accelerated communication, opened new doors and created new professionalism, but fear prevails about what is happening, especially from an employment perspective.
«The digital transition is a process of history – explains President Tallia – Cas such, it must be managed so that the results are effective for society: the state of democracy can actually be measured by its level of public awareness. Digital journalism requires a major transformation from a regulatory perspective.”
Information is the primary asset of democratic societies, so there must be laws to protect this system in light of the digital transition. What will happen to AI? «Artificial Intelligence it is an opportunity and a tool to be mastered— adds Tallia – Laws must be quickly written to regulate the use of artificial intelligence to distinguish what is man-made from what is man-made. This is a fundamental problem for society and brings risks not only for journalists, but for all citizens.»
Transition solutions: the debate is global
Written journalism is an industry in severe crisis according to what we read in the Digital news report 2023. No industry sector has lost as many workers in percentage terms as the publishing industry.
«Paper newspapers suffered double cannibalization – continues the president – the loss of paper copies as readers choose digital and a huge shift in resources from content producers, from classic publishing companies to content distributors such as Google AND facebook, who earn from advertising. An attempt has been made to remedy this with laws requiring major platforms to redistribute a portion of their revenue to the publishing companies that produce the content.»
Editors have partially stopped this transition: the transformation is underway, older publishing companies are trying to find a balance between paper and digital. «Opening a free online edition of the newspaper was an initial mistake – concludes President Tallía– Many newspapers have switched to payment methods such as subscriptions. A concrete example is the global debate, which was based on two big models: that of the New York Times, which immediately made its readers pay, and that of The Guardian, which instead left its content open. If success was measured from the point of view of readers, the Guardian model was the winner, but history has shown that from an economic and sustainability point of view, the New York Times model was the winner.»
Also read:
Artificial intelligence and journalism: two sides of the same coin
Constructive journalism as a response to the information crisis