The future of newspapers is either incredibly bright or incredibly dark, depending on your point of view. Those who think it is incredibly dark are normally the ones to decry the dominance of the Internet over traditional print newspapers. They talk about how the desire for instantaneous gratification has lead Internet journalism down the path of sensationalism, away from the carefully considered reportage of print newspapers. This, they say, means that while people may be receiving more information on many different subjects, they aren’t receiving enough information on important events. Other potential disadvantages are news being reported before enough details are known, leading to misunderstandings that can influence later reports of the same subject.

Is this the future of newspapers? A wall of a hut made with rolled up newspapers.

Luckily for us all, the naysayers are wrong, and the future of newspapers is definitely a bright one. While sensationalist news sites abound, online newspapers are not all gossipmongers. Opinion pieces may be more prevalent due to the popularity of blogs, but the simple reporting of the news can still be found in a thoughtful and serious context on the major news sites. The future of newspapers may have a higher quantity of news stories, but this does not necessarily mean it will suffer from diminishing quality.

First of all, with so many homes and practically all businesses having Internet access, and mobile phones being added to the mix, online newspapers are becoming the norm. Improved search functionality makes it easy to find the kinds of stories you are interested in, and readers can even set up alerts to be sent to them when news is available for a specific subject. Sites dedicated to obscure areas of news are also easier to support, as the overheads for maintaining publication are extremely low.

The involvement of the public at large, long having been considered an important part of true journalism, is much easier thanks to the Internet. The future of newspapers will involve far more public commentary in the form of comments sections under news stories, individual blog posts, and ongoing commentary using social networking tools.

Strangely, many forms of research that fell out of use in the recent past have returned with the advent of services such as Twitter. While gossip or word-of-mouth may not be reliable for the lead of a story when it comes from a single person, it can be worth a journalist’s time if it comes from thousands of people on Twitter. Additionally, Twitter has become a vital source of information when journalists are restricted from entering dangerous locales for political reasons. Twitter users have been able to keep journalists informed of events as they unfold, so that they can be reported to an even wider audience.

It is this usage of the public at large that will likely mark the next great era of newspaper journalism. Contributions from the public in the form of photographic, written and audio content will make up increasingly large parts of the sources for journalism. Location may also become less important to the reporting of an event, as so many more people will be documenting their experiences of major events in a widely accessible manner. There will always be a place for dedicated journalists to investigate the big stories, but the collective knowledge to be drawn upon thanks to the Internet means that the average citizen will begin to have a vital role in the reporting of news.