Monday, April 4, 2011

03 Everyone Is A Media Outlet


Professionals have a hard time recognizing outside threats to their profession for a number of reasons, which is why media executives did not recognize the imminent threat to their field that the Internet represented; it changed the way in which information was disseminated and closed the divide between creator and consumer almost completely.

“The Mass amateurization of publishing undoes the limitations inherent in having a small number of traditional press outlets;” creating a space in which the trustworthiness of self-published outlets are lowered but are amplified due to sheer number, changing the definition of news. Self-publishing tools offer alternatives to publishing altogether. Social effects lag behind technological ones by decade. Professionals often become gatekeepers by controlling the function of their profession. However in some cases, changes that appear to threaten professions benefit society.

Mass amateurization is changing the way in which news in published, and in the process finding new routes around the structural limitations that have hampered traditional news outlets. During times of revolution, professionals are often too concerned with threats to the profession. Because of this, they are often slower to adapt to technological change than the rest of society.



The possibility of cheap self-publishing has led to competition between professionals and amateurs, meaning professional fields of media have lost the monopoly over their respective specialties. Amateurs and professionals are no longer strict categories; they are now on a spectrum.


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