There are those who say that all traditional forms of media will be extinct and journalism like that of Twitter and WikiLeaks is the future. While most editors dismiss this as hogwash and alarmist, there are some signs that it is happening already.

A look at some stories where traditional media picked up from such sites…

The Austerity Drive: A simple Shashi Tharoor “cattle class” Tweet almost brought the Indian Parliament down.
(You can deny what you say, but not what you Tweet.)

The IPL Megascam: The IPL was set up in 2008. For about two years the entire Indian media went gaga over Modi and it was a Lalit in Wonderland show 24/7. Then a Tharoor-Modi Tweetspat led to the entire house tumbling down like a pack of cards.
(Sawdhan: Ek Twitter message insaan ke career ko hijra bana sakta hai.)

The Zulqarnain Shocker: While the whole world was wondering about the disappearance of Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider, his Facebook status message threw light on his mental anguish.
(Keep your friend close, your status messages closer.)

The Radia Tapes: Just because two high-profile editors were involved, most of the media kept mum on the Radia tapes. But immense pressure from cyberspace led to a whole slew of stories and debates.
(One sole journalist cannot take on a million citizen journalists).

US Intelligence leaks: While the US high-handedness and backroom talks could be guessed by most, the precise details in the form of WikiLeaks came as a shocker to the whole world.
(Getting hold of a hard copy of a secret document is tough. Getting hold of a few million in cyberspace is a piece of cake.)

Twitter also has become the sole voice of the masses like in Iran in recent times and celebrity Twitter messages are filling stories and sound bytes in traditional media.

Just one point: While most people say that this new form of journalism is not reliable or in-depth or not taken seriously, I just have one point to make. For most of cyberspace, the first source of news is Twitter and Facebook. That is, you get your news from them and then move on to traditional media.

If a newspaper or magazine broke the news and it unleashed a storm on Twitter or Facebook, I can understand. But so many lead stories are being broken or created in this new medium and newspapers and TV channels are doing the following.

The only reason why the entire world doesn’t get its news this way is due to low Internet penetration. Most of the world still relies on a newspaper or TV channel. But for how long?

The day is not far when everyone will have access to the Internet either on the computer, mobile or other handheld device and then traditional media will find itself suddenly redundant.

Day Before Yesterday: Media = Newspapers + Magazines

Yesterday: New Media = Online + TV. Old Media = Newspapers + Magazines

Today: New Media = Twitter & Co. Old Media = Newspapers + Magazines + TV

Tomorrow: Facebook+ Twitter & Co. embedded with blogs, video, audio clips = Only Media.

The Day After Tomorrow: Everything else will come under “Extinct Media”.

New Media Motto: Apna haath Jagannath!

(Don’t rely on anyone else’s hand to write a story. Rely on your own!)

© Sunil Rajguru