Out With the Old in with the New: Evolution in Media Reporting Style

In September 11, 2001 the terrorist group Al-Qaeda destroyed the Twin Towers and leveled half the Pentagon. This unprecedented event created a wave of terror over the American population. Infuriated the people cried for war. Pacifism became a synonym for terrorism. Bearing under the pressure, media broadcast became censured. As the war progressed, skepticism toward the media started to develop. These skeptics sought out to write differing antiwar opinions in Internet blogs. By 2004 there was a media shift from investigating reporting to internet blogging.




The new medium of information allows for reports to assess numerous of sources within seconds. This new form of reporting has allowed for reporters to cut down on both traveling and monetary expenses. However, due to the internet saturation with random information, the reporter finds it rather difficult to obtain liable information. Thanks to the war, traditional reporting lost credibility. In order to survive, reporters were forced to adopt a new style of reporting.

Similarly, the 60s media revolution was triggered by dissatisfaction created by the war. The growing tensions created by the Vietnam War triggered a shift in the media’s style of reporting. The medium changed from print to broadcast television. In the 60s, reporters used live broadcast television as a tool to speak against the injustices perpetrated by the government. There was a shift from pro-war to pacifism. The media tools used by the 60s generation to carryout social justice became commercialized in subsequent years. The massive corporate controls of media broadcast television and newspapers laid the foundation for Internet Blogging. The cooperation’s control of content has caused media news to lose its stronghold on American society. Once again reporters were forced to evolve in order to maintain an audience.

After learning this new information, I obtained new appreciation for the different types of mediums for transmitting information. Each medium raging from the newspaper to the Internet has its own unique impact in the time they were implemented. I learned in class that as certain mediums becomes obsolete reporters must device new ways of obtaining and reporting information. In doing so, reporters are able to adapt to modern times.