This text is part of the special section Professions and careers
In recent years, the technological revolution has disrupted journalism, both in terms of the format and the means of disseminating information or the business models of media companies. However, despite this change, the journalist’s mission, which is to serve the public interest, as well as the nature of the profession remain unchanged.
Significant presence on social networks, video and audio editing and daily creation of several types of content adapted to the different media platforms: the journalist has become a real jack of all trades. “It’s the mastery of all these codes, all these formats that has really changed. But as for the work of journalists, it’s the same work as 30 years ago. It’s about checking the facts, taking nothing for granted, while having a detector of bullshit which works 100% of the time,” illustrates Patrick White, associate professor and head of the journalism program at the Media School of the University of Quebec in Montreal.
Caroline Bergeron, who participated in the overhaul of the certificate in multiplatform journalism of the Faculty of Continuing Education of the University of Montreal, agrees: skills must be developed and mastered in order to become true watchdogs of democracy. “Rigour, the importance of providing fair and factual information are the basic skills. Having a certain ethics in relation to the facts, in relation to one’s sources, in relation to the way in which one seeks information, these are very important skills to ensure the veracity of the facts, then to present that an objective way,” lists Mme Bergeron.
“We need journalists who are curious. Curiosity is the basis of everything. After that, it is the ability to express oneself well in order to properly report current events to citizens at home. You also have to not be afraid to go out into the field,” adds Mr. White.
The future of journalism
Although the basic qualities of becoming a good journalist have not been influenced by digital technology, could artificial intelligence (AI) change the situation? “At the moment, most of the major Canadian media have put the brakes on this, that is to say that there is a code, there is already a charter for managing artificial intelligence in the news. We don’t want fake news created by software,” believes Patrick White.
For example, in July, Reporters Without Borders, a non-profit organization which fights to make journalistic information accessible to all, announced that it was working on the creation of a charter which would aim to regulate the use of AI in news outlets. The results should be known by the end of the year.
“We already know that we are capable of automating 5 to 15% of journalists’ tasks, such as having a computer system that will generate very short texts on the stock market or on the results of sports teams. In Florida, the Miami Herald also uses computer programs that generate texts from real estate advertisements,” emphasizes Mr. White. “It’s certain that we have seen some great things in artificial intelligence, and some failures. It is certain that it is not tomorrow that we will entrust an editorial to ChatGPT. But it must be taken very seriously because the media have not been able to anticipate the virtual iceberg,” shares, for her part, Caroline Bergeron.
The journalism of tomorrow is not just made up of AI: according to Mme Bergeron and Mr. White, the next generation is alive and well and can be found in schools and journalism programs. “It’s really the passion for doing journalism and the field that attracts them. There are many students who want to do sports journalism, which has been very popular for 4-5 years. There are others who are very interested in international journalism,” notes Patrick White.
“Following the pandemic, there has been an extraordinary need for clear information. I think it was a big boost to new registrations for the certificate. People realized the importance of unbiased information and I think that, collectively, people became aware of the danger of fake news, the danger of bad information, as we saw south of the border, with Trump and the rise of conspiracy theory, for example,” says M.me Bergeron.
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