Floating Island

Chief among the concerns of our fellow journalism students is the implication of new media on our careers– how we will get (and keep) our jobs in the future. Will we have to become editors instead of reporters?

We still do not know if there are viable business models out there for the new media, and the pace of change can be overwhelming. Our future is a world of “possibilities and uncertainties.”

Perhaps ours is not unique among the industries in feeling the impact of technology, but since we are writers, we may be better at expressing our concerns and incorporating them into the public discourse.

Many of us look forward to taking part in building the Web 2.0 and beyond, yet there is also some dismay that Hong Kong’s local media are not keeping up with the pace of change, and that China’s repressive media environment means that bloggers risk losing out on the full potential offered by the new media.

The internet is exhilarating but can also become tiring. There are so many voices out there that it causes us to worry about how to sift the true from the false and where to place our trust. And as young journalists, we still need to devote a substantial amount of time and energy to the fundamentals– quality reporting and writing.

The new media also places added stresses on journalists to be “always on” within the 24/7 news cycle.

But our reality is not always online. Yarson made an important point to remind us of the technical limitations of the new media– it’s not always accessible or convenient, and reading online is tiring on the eyes.