Internet y los nuevos medios

(Sólo disponible en versión inglesa)

The Internet is overtaking newspapers and prime time broadcasting as a source of news. For young people, and for the most politically engaged, it has already done so. In the future, the Internet may well be the first port of call for news, but the role of traditional media and professional journalism providing context, analysis and commentary on news, politics, culture and social development will remain vital to democracy.

Journalists' unions across the globe are adjusting to the changing landscape of media -- the introduction of web news portals, integration of text, audio and image technology and new systems of delivery -- by renovating their recruitment and organising objectives. IFJ unions are committed to representing and protecting all journalists working in this new environment.

Engagement with the Internet is a major feature of changing trends within traditional media. As a result, most people surfing the Internet today in search of news will end up more often than not at a site that is aggregating journalistic work that originated in a newspaper or a traditional broadcast outlet.

These developments are bringing about a shift in journalistic norms, not just in the skills and technical capacity of journalists expected to work in this new landscape, but also in the professional values being applied to news and information. 

Traditional newspaper and broadcast news services have traditionally appealed to a broad audience, with conflicting values and opinions, by virtue of its commitment to the goal of objectivity. Today, niche marketing that has followed the fragmenting of the information environment means a greater capacity for precise targeting of services. This brings new challenges.

Journalists' unions through the IFJ are creating networks and programmes to better protect employment rights and working conditions while launching a new debate about the need for  ethical and quality content whatever the mode of dissemination of information.