Vera Alves – “A new definition of media”

The young generations grew up in a world where media is totally different to what it was for our parents and the generations before them. Like any social change, it takes some time to adjust to a new reality and there is always a culture and generational clash. It’s going to take some years (decades, I’d say) until everything is going full-speed.

Computers, cell phones, internet… they’ve all been present for the vast majority of my twenty-something years. I grew up with them and, in doing so, adapting myself to their presence was a natural and unconscious process. Not so for our parents.

Many older journalists seem to be refusing to adjust to this shift in the cultural paradigm. It’s not our job to tell them they’re wrong – they’ll figure it out by themselves. In many cases, they adjust ever so slightly, by using the web as an archive for material published in the past. The web is still the print’s poor cousin for these journalists and they can’t quite see its potential.

A new definition of media

(Vera Alves works as a journalist in New Zealand and has been blogging for quite some time. She recently started a new “journalism only” blog at http://verahasawebsite.com/blog.)

A minha querida e muito portuguesa Vera Alves, que recentemente se mudou para a Nova Zelândia, escreveu este interessantíssimo artigo para o Journalism.co.uk,  inserido no August Debate . Mais uma mente portuguesa a brilhar por aí, sem esperar por medalhas. Parabéns Vera, e boa sorte na terra dos kiwis.

My dear and very portuguese Vera Alves that recently moved to New Zealand, wrote this most interesting article for Journalism.co.uk, within the August Debate. Another portuguese mind shining out there, without expecting any medals. Congratulations Vera, and good luck in kiwi land.