teaching awards from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). She won three first-place awards and two honorable mentions in the organization’s Teaching News Terrifically in the 21st Century competition, achieved third place in the Teaching Best Practices competition and was twice named as a finalist for the Great Ideas for Teaching award. Cox was nominated by Salisbury University for the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents’ Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching and was a finalist for the City of Salisbury’s Light of Literacy award for education. She was also named Advisor of the Year for her work with the Society of Professional Journalists chapter she founded at Salisbury University and was recognized by the SPJ national office for her work as president and treasurer of Maryland’s professional chapter.
As a scholar, Cox has received three top conference paper awards from AEJMC and the Broadcast Education Association. She has published research articles in the Newspaper Research Journal, Community Journalism, Journalism Practice and the Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education, and she has presented more than 20 scholarly papers at journalism conferences. She has also published articles in 10 professional publications, including The Chronicle of Higher Education, Quill and Inside Higher Ed, and a chapter in the text “Social Media: Pedagogy and Practice.”
Cox lives in Salisbury, Maryland, with her husband, Jeremy, and their daughter, Charlie.
Chapter 1 Feature Storytelling in the Digital Age
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Diving In: Who Needs Journalists?
Who is a journalist? Until recently, that was a simple question. A journalist was someone who worked for a news outlet gathering information, organizing it into a story and disseminating it to a mass audience. The widespread, immediate availability of free news online has not only changed the journalism industry but also called into question what it means to be a “journalist.” Although many in the field still regard “professional journalists” largely by traditional standards, some of the farthest-reaching and most influential journalism these days is produced by average citizens who have the instinct to point their smartphone cameras at news events unfolding around them. Newsrooms are shrinking at an alarming rate as more consumers turn to free information online that is selected and distributed by their friends on social media.
You may be asking yourself now: Why bother training to be a journalist? Why not just leave news to the masses to produce and spread? The answer to that actually is simple—we need you!
The accessibility of information has led to some great things. Younger Americans are exposed to news constantly online. The widespread availability of news on social media has resulted in greater news consumption among Americans ages 18 to 29.1 Those social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, have also acted as platforms for exchanging ideas, organizing social movements and fostering connections that might otherwise have been impossible.
The news is not all good, though. Easy access to information has also led to the spreading of misinformation—both accidentally and intentionally, as we will learn in this chapter. Online news consumers have been able to avoid news and information that challenges their existing beliefs. This is largely due to the searchability of the internet and social media platforms’ advanced calculations, or algorithms, designed to show viewers primarily what they want to see.2 And while we are exposed to more news online, many consumers are not actually clicking beyond the initial headline or tweet to get the full meaning of the story. A recent study by researchers at Columbia University and the French National Institute found that 59% of links shared on Twitter were never clicked on, meaning that the person distributing the article never read it before sharing it.3
Journalists are needed—now more than ever—to add context to news events, to practice dogged reporting techniques and to act ethically to provide responsible journalism designed to help consumers understand issues and make informed decisions. Journalists work tirelessly to find stories that matter to the communities they serve and to tell those stories in ways that engage readers and demonstrate their own trustworthiness and proficiency. Producing journalism that makes an impact is important and rewarding. It is your job to sort through the clutter and get people the news they need to navigate in this brilliant and overwhelming Digital Age.
Changing Journalism in the Digital Age
Although the “Digital Age” technically began in the 1970s with the advent of the personal computer, most references to the era point to the early to mid-2000s as the beginning of the modern digital revolution. The creation of the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 and subsequent expansion of the internet accelerated Americans’ interest in computers. By 2000, more than half of all U.S. households owned a personal computer, up from just 8.2% in 1984.4 The Digital Age really took off in the late 2000s as mobile phones expanded to offer internet access, making it possible for users to get information anytime, anywhere. By 2018, the Pew Research Center reported that 77% of Americans owned smartphones, up from just 35% in 2011.5 The Digital Age is in full swing.
The Digital Age has had a vast impact on the field of journalism, changing:
How reporters work
The delivery of news
Expectations of news and reporters
The way information is shared
Words With Pros
Changes to Feature Storytelling in the Digital Age
Interview with Michael Kilian, Executive Editor, Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, New York
Courtesy of Michael Kilian
Michael Kilian has seen some changes during his 40 years working in newspapers and magazines, but none quite as impactful as the mobile device.
“It was a much more disruptive force than desktop computers were. We know what readers consume online, and we know that we’re not only competing with other media. Now we’re competing with our daughter’s texts, YouTube videos, Twitter, Instagram—everything your phone can do.”
After working as a reporter and copy editor, Kilian transitioned into newsroom management roles in 1990. Through stints as executive editor for the Daily Times in Salisbury, Maryland; news director for the Cincinnati Enquirer; executive editor of the Burlington Free Press in Vermont; and now executive editor of the Democrat and Chronicle in Upstate New York, Kilian has guided reporters toward new storytelling strategies for engaging audiences.
“You have to think about what has value for the audience. What interests do they have? What needs to they have? We need to find ways to fill those readers’ needs. Why and how are key questions we have to answer in the stories we choose to pursue.”
Kilian says news organizations cannot compete internationally or even nationally the way they used to. Readers often get breaking news stories of worldwide importance from social media rather than their local newspaper. That’s why, he says, listening to the needs of the people in the community and crafting stories around them is the
