Mr. Gates Returns

Although basic features of journalism have remained the same over recent decades, the tasks journalists perform, the skills they need and the position they have within news organizations have changed dramatically. Usually the focus in the discourse on changes in journalism is on skills, especially on multi-media and research skills. In this paper the focus is also on the professional roles of journalists, arguing that these roles have changed fundamentally. Different trends in journalism that have caused this shift are distinguished. First, journalism has become more technical, ranging from blogging and editing video to programming and Search Engine Optimisation. At the same time, many journalists are now more “harvesters”, “managers” and “curators” of information rather than producers of news. Thirdly, journalists are expected to gather information from citizens and social media, and edit and moderate user-contributions, working as “community managers”. Lastly, many journalists are no longer employed by media, but work as freelancers or independent entrepreneurs. These trends are tracked with examples from almost a hundred job descriptions in the Netherlands, taken from the most popular Dutch journalism recruitment site, from media websites and a journalism internship website.