Over time the Internet has been a vital part of everything in our lives. It began over 50 years ago as a government weapon during the Cold War. In the time that the Internet has been around, it has destroyed many areas that were doing well. Some of them include Journalism, Reporting, and Wrestling. There are others as well, but these are the ones where the area has turned around mighty due to the Internet. The Internet has its perks, but it also has its downfalls.
Let us look at the relationship between the internet and journalism. Before we talk about the relationship between journalism and the internet, I would like to discuss how writing as a whole began. The birthplace of Journalism is in Strassburg as in 1605 Johann Carolus published what is considered to be the first newspaper. The birth of modern journalism came hundreds of years later. During the 1950’s, the reformed Diario Carioca newspaper in Brazil is considered to be the birthplace of modern journalism.
For a while, the only way you were getting your news was through newspapers as the TVs did not have as many news outlets or news websites between the 1950’s and now, 2016. Over the years, as the internet expanded, more news sites came out and the problem, in my opinion, is how every site thinks they are the best site around. The problem is there are some people who will believe anything they read on the internet is true.
The other problem that the internet has had on the whole landscape of journalism is that it has shut the doors down on many newspaper companies across the United States. The Business Insider had an article on the downhill spiral of the newspaper industry. A few keys things they mentioned that were interesting was in 2009; 105 newspapers companies closed their doors and this lead to 10,000 jobs being lost.
A primary reason this occurred was when the economy collapsed. The advertising budgets went with it. This would throw a lot of components to go hairy with the newspaper industry.
Another area where the internet has destroyed, it is wrestling in my opinion. I would put this on the fact of how people read and believe that it’s true. Then they go ahead and share it, thus ruining a return or debut. If you go back to when the Dudley Boyz made their return to WWE at the RAW after Summerslam, the pop they got were a genuine surprise.
That is not a thing that you see in wrestling anymore. Before the days of the internet, wrestling fans did not know before hand if a wrestler was returning or debuting. I don’t think it killed the wrestling industry. I just feel it altered it a lot. As a wrestling fan, I truly hope we can go back to the times when you were surprised to see a return.
Another area that the internet has changed or destroyed an industry is the reporting industry. Reporting the news has been around for years as it was professional people who were getting paid and who had credentials and knowledge. In 2016 that is the complete opposite. Due to the advancements in the internet world with blogs, vlogs, Twitter, and so on that allow anyone to report on the news.
Also, you have many fake accounts on twitter and such that report news, and you have people who buy into it. The integrity level for reporting has gone down because of the internet.
Overall, what it all comes down to is the internet has its advantages and disadvantages. I think the biggest reason why the internet has destroyed many of these fields is by people believing everything they read. If you are reading something and it is not from a reputable source or the article does not credit the source, then my suggestion is don’t buy into it.