Hear today and on tomorrow: The future of news and “news talk” in an era of digital radio

Starkey, G., Crisell, A (2012). Hear today and on tomorrow: The future of news and “news talk” in an era of digital radio. Allan, S (Ed.). Routledge Companion to News and Journalism, 661-670London: Routledge.

Abstract: The key principles of journalism manifest themselves in any and every medium because they relate to a set of core issues around truths about the world we live in and the ways of selecting and presenting those truths. Nevertheless, we would argue that an understanding of nothing more than these key principles would be an inadequate preparation for the practice of journalism in radio. The medium makes unique demands on the journalist, imposing practices which have been tried and tested over a long period of time. Yet the medium is changing: other practices are relatively new or still emerging, and one important catalyst for change has been the transition from analogue to digital technology. In this chapter we examine the potential impact of digital technology on radio journalism, specifically news and news-related content, and venture some predictions which are at once conservative and optimistic.