In 1993, Bob Kellagher bought
his first computer. He remembers
thinking to himself that it
was “the greatest invention of all
time.” However, the advertising
company that he worked for had
a different opinion. “They almost
locked me up for that,” joked
Kellagher.
In Kellagher’s 35 years as a
professional advertiser & journalist,
he has seen many changes
in the way information is produced
and released. Kellagher
graduated from college during a
deep recession, but he was lucky
enough to climb the ladder of
opportunity and land good jobs
along the way until finally
becoming Chief Operating
Officer of interactive media for
Calkins Media.
On April 22 at Bucks’ Fourth
Annual “Media Day,” Kellagher
explained to the audience the
changes he has seen in the business
throughout his career. He
began a slideshow by showing a
picture of the popular cartoon
character Stewie from the show
“Family Guy.” When someone
asked him why Stewie was on
the slide, Kellagher chuckled.
“I’m a big Stewie fan,” he said.
“Stewie likes to screw things up
just like how traditional media
distribution channels screw
things up.”
Kellagher believes that emerging
digital platforms are both to
blame and to praise for the
downward spiral of traditional
media. He used the popular website
YouTube as an example. In
2008, a video was posted showing
a kid putting Mentos in Diet
Coke to make it explode. This
year, a kid named Jeremy
Froncek put a video of himself
on YouTube smoking a pack of
Smarties. Both of these seemingly
stupid videos had over 50,000
views on the website. In fact,
Froncek became so well known
that he made a debut on Fox
News. “Why would traditional
media like Fox News spend airtime
on frivolous stuff like this?”
asked Kellagher.
Chris Krewson, another speaker
at the event and executive editor
for online news at the
Philadelphia Inquirer, said the
web “isn’t the future of journalism,
it’s the present.” Although
he admitted that the new, webbased
journalistic landscape is
hard to break into, he had a few
suggestions. “Aspiring journalists
need to start a blog, and join
a social network,” he said. “You
need to use these two things to
brand yourself, as they will lead
to opportunity down the line.”
One member of the audience
asked about the word “journalism”
itself. She wondered if the
word itself would disappear
along with traditional print journalism.
With blogging websites
like twitter and easier access to
online news material, “everything
might go to the citizens.”
Another member of the audience
quickly interjected in agreement.
“What’s the future of people
who have expertise?” he asked.
“When I’m sitting on my toilet
these days reading Time
Magazine, I wonder where the
last few dozen pages have gone.”
Newspapers and magazines
nationwide have had to make
cutbacks due to lack of money
from advertisers. The
Philadelphia Inquirer has filed
for bankruptcy protection.
According to Krewson, twothirds
of the paper’s advertisers
went bankrupt, including one of
their biggest advertisers,
Boscov’s Department store.
Krewson admitted the paper
could not even hire more staff at
this time without appealing to a ead,” promised Tim Carroll,
another speaker and former
editor of the Centurion who
now works as a staff writer
for the Hoboken Reporter
weekly newspaper in New
Jersey. “It’s just struggling to
get by. It’s going to look a
heck of a lot different in the
years to come.”
Robert Moran, another
speaker and an online
reporter for the Inquirer,
added that with online journalism,
there is more depth,
because there are more ways
to get information. “There are
so many more voices than
compared to print journalism,”
he said. “Many of them
are respectable.” In terms of
adjusting to getting news
from sources other than print,
Moran said that people will
“just have to change their
ways.”
“The rise of the internet has
ruined the equation of print
journalism,” said Krewson.
“But its speed is good; we’re
just trying to keep up.”
Kellagher compared the “old
world” of journalism to the
“new world,” saying that in
the past there were anointed
journalists and finished stories.
These days, there are citizen
journalists and constant
updates.
Moran added that live blogging
is changing the face of
journalism. “Sites like Twitter
are good to use at such places
like trials or primary day
elections,” he said. “These
events are quick-paced and
live blogging allows journalists
to get their messages
across very quickly, all the
while knowing in their minds
it is just a ‘first-take.'”
Since 1993, when Kellagher
bought his first computer,
there have been countless
changes to journalism, and a
lot of those changes revolve
around the World Wide Web.
But what should aspiring
journalists be focusing on to
prepare themselves for a
career in this quickly changing
field?
Krewson suggests “learning
to learn.” “Don’t get too
caught up in the paper part of
it,” he said. “Focus on the
actual news, not just the
paper.” But this message
came with the warning that if
aspiring reporters do not tell
the truth, they are failing in
the most basic aspect of journalism.
“People will always
need information,” he said.
“It just must be accurate.”
Carroll said as much as
journalism is changing and
becoming much web-based,
it’s important to focus on how
it can remain the same,
because it is “a necessary
aspect of society.” “No matter
how much journalism is
changing, we need to set it
apart by keeping up journalistic
standards that keep
newspapers great,” he said.
“Understand that a journalist’s
job is to provide a full
story by finding answers.
Despite all this change, journalism
is a profession that
requires more than just access
to a keyboard.”