Bing

The answer to a question, in most circumstances needs to be balanced. In this instance, the answer is quite simply, yes.

The Internet has changed absolutely everything. Everything we do today is different because of the world wide web and the Internet. It was about as instrumental as the invention of electricity. At a click of a button we have online banking, gambling, dating, courses and many, many more.

The Internet has largely brought into play three key factors:

1. Accessibility

2. Speed of Service

3. Simplicity

However, the Internet with it’s wonderful time and hassle-saving interface has also brought with it it’s share of complexities. Namely that of authenticity and reliability… something journalists are all too familiar with.

The definition of a journalist is a vague one which ranges from as simplistic a definition as somebody who keeps a journal, to somebody who practices journalism. You can see how this loose definition can be problematic when one’s whole career and integrity as a journalist, lie in being truthful, accurate, un-biased and trustworthy. And yet with the Internet, this definition has never rung so true.

Practically anyone can be a journalist with the Internet. With the rise and proliferation of bloggers and tagging, each and everyone has a voice, and a voice that can reach sometimes more readers than a best-selling newspaper columnist. The thing is, we don’t necessarily know the real identity of these people, nor their true intentions. They can be as biased and one-sided or fictitious as they like and have no editor to answer to. What’s more, it costs them nothing.

This doesn’t necessarily mean it is a bad thing – it clearly isn’t. The Internet has allowed many a good writer and journalist to have their work read by an appreciative audience, seeking the real truth. This is particularly true in countries whose press do not enjoy the same freedoms the western hemisphere does. It facilitates communication and the spread of information – in a nutshell - journalism.

Finally, journalists can be anywhere in the world reporting on a story. The Internet allows us to quickly and easily search, locate and communicate with interviewees. Better still, it means a word/audio/video file can be dispatched to your editor within seconds of completing your story, while you’re still in a different zip code.

And yet, all this facilitation comes at a price. Everything we do on the Internet can be traced back to us. Like entering a store, every time we visit a web site, our information is recorded. So, as journalists, this poses a greater threat. In trying to get to the ‘truth’ of a story, we must be extremely careful. Particularly when dealing with sensitive issues relating to less diplomatic governments which won’t exactly be welcoming the bad press.

I leave you with the latest example of mainland journalist Shi Tao, who was given a ten year jail sentence for leaking state secrets. Yahoo!, one of the Internet’s most popular search engines and at least one of my email account service providers, provided his Internet Protocol address to the mainland authorities. So, the very vehicle that had helped release the information he sought, ultimately led to his imprisonment.

Today, being a journalist is both easier and harder. The internet has facilitated our trade and yet with it, brought our credibility further more into question.