Professional journalism is the highest category of social communication. Both because of the rules that govern its exercise and because of the nature of its mission in the defense of democracy, its role remains unique in society.
Apart from it and thanks to the wide space that digital platforms open up, new ways of informing or communicating facts and opinions are now at the hands of citizens who disseminate them without going through the screens and cares that are applied in newspapers and news channels. radio or television.
Regardless of the sphere from which the news emanates, the truth is that humanity now has greater sources to learn about current events and innovative ways of doing it.
I have seen, for example, how some famous youtubers or influencers also try to resemble professional journalists by taking them to their audiences, through videos or podcasts, stories and experiences of the realities they capture and how they interpret and configure them.
That they do not adhere to the methods of verification, contrast between sources and prohibition of biases, is another thing. The user or receiver will decide if they deserve trust, if they are real and credible or if, on the contrary, they are fictional creatures.
What does not mean that, in most cases, those that those youtubers or influencers disseminate, pure and simple or with assembled editions, constitute raw material for the knowledge of situations or episodes that are truly news.
Some creative forms that come from these empirical communicators are worthy, however, to take into account and to be refined and incorporated into the menu of options with which professional digital journalism seeks to enrich itself and become closer and connected to the new preferences of the hearings.
Youtubers-journalists are considered emerging category in this surprising ecosystem of information.
- Translated from Spanish by Randy Rodriguez.
Director's Thoughts 