The Utilisation of News in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The chapter aims to analyse how technologies are changing the fruition of news. The profound changes in the processes of their distribution produce not only consequences in the transformations of business models but also on the forms of consumption. These transformations completely change the experience of fruition entirely and, in addition, force each receiver to become his or her own gatekeeper because he or she must select from the plethora of information overload what is of interest, constructing a personal information diet. Before the arrival of digital content, journalists had exclusive ownership in connecting the producing sources of events with the receiving audience and the consequent prerogative to select and prioritise which facts were of public interest. The digital environment has caused this monopoly to be lost. However, journalism is not only about transporting information from a source to an audience but also about ‘shaping’ information, that is, contextualising it within a container, which for centuries has been the daily newspaper, then periodicals, then radio and television, and finally websites. How does this significant change that attenuates information sharing reflect on the journalism profession, and, more importantly, how does it change traditional forms of journalism’s legitimacy? Are concepts such us journalistic objectivity, completeness of information, and public interest still valid and how are they pursued in the new environment?