Posted By, Hannah Blahut

The landscape of journalism is rapidly changing due to the constant rise of technologies and social media. It’s true that journalists now a days need to not only be well versed in Twitter, Facebook, Vine and more, but they also much be constantly updating and refreshing whatever it is that they’re putting out into the web. Dan Steinberg, the Washington Post blogger who visited our class this past week explained how it’s his job to be constantly plugged in.  However, before we know it, it might not matter how quickly a blogger reacts, or how often he or she is tweeting or updating statuses.   The Neiman Reports recently posted an article describing new software “capable, its creators say, of drafting dozens of news items in impeccable English within seconds.” For now, Stats Monkey is being used primarily to report on baseball, which makes sense, since it’s a sport that is based on statistics and numbers. Soon though, the creators hope to expand its coverage to global financial markets. The Guardian posted an article that described various other programs designed to effectively replace the need for human journalists. While it’s natural for the average person to fear this robot-esque future we seem to be facing, it also doesn’t seem wise to shy away from new smart technologies.  This new type of news reporting would be nearly instantaneous, which could be extremely beneficial in times of crisis or danger. At the same time, it loops us back to the question Professor Yagoda asked us on the first day of class: What in the world are we studying journalism for, anyways?