Public Relations in the contemporary world: Insight into Profession. Н. В. Лаштабова

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      5 Tomorrow’s journalism new technology, new ethics? Jay Black

      In the following selection, Jay Black ponders the ethical implications of new communication devices like mini-cams and portable VDTs, which may shift gatekeeping decisions into the hands of younger field reporters and so mitigate against careful decision making on the part of new staffs. Will newsrooms, as they adapt to more sophisticated communication technology, attract journalists who are less committed to factual reporting than they are to the style, glamour, and gimmickry of the profession in "this neovideo age"? Jay Black is chairman of the Department of Journalism at the University of Alabama. One ramification of the communications revolution we rarely hear discussed, but one we would do well to consider, is that the drastic alterations in how we communicate with each other in the future may quite possibly revolutionize the very definition of what it means to be a journalist. At base, some important ethical questions are raised. VDTs [video display terminals] and mini-cams are standard equipment for today's journalists. Satellite dishes adorn nearly every news outlet, print or electronic. Novel and intriguing in their own rights, they are merely the outward signs of a revolutionary system that will soon link almost all of us, everywhere, in a gargantuan electronic and computerized global village. Buck Rogers telecommunications devices are becoming increasingly commonplace in American and European homes. Satellite and cable-fed messages are now being received on microcomputers interfaced with television screens and printers. Dow Jones, Knight-Ridder, Warner-Amex, and other media companies are experimenting with two-way interactive systems that allow instantaneous and customercontrolled delivery of news, information, entertainment, banking, security, mail delivery, and direct marketing of a great many products.