cific reference to the BBC, organisations have faced struggles in keeping up with social media, as news has now had immediate; and available on new/multiple platforms throughout the whole day. Using social media has created many issues: starting with privacy; what are the boundaries, with sites like Facebook and Twitter, users are entitled to tweet about issues like pregnancies, affairs and finance, which leaves traditional media values in ignorance. There also come real issues with truth, accuracy, integrity, verification and independence. Sources should be checked and checked again before reliable news organisations like the BBC share information – creating another issue, with news travelling quicker than ever across social media, with no way of turning-back from information posted once it’s online, meaning the audience need to be able to rely on news organisations to provide truthful and accurate information.

Moreover, BBC also expressed the three main pros of social media when it comes to news reporting and how it’s early presence on the web enabled it to spot the new and exciting possibilities: ‘Newsgathering, Audience engagement, a platform.’

With the positives of using digital technology within the journalism career comes the damaging prospects it has on it: the downward spiral on job numbers, the poor salaries and the high expectations of journalists regarding the speed in which the news reaches the audience.

Beginning with the little job opportunities for journalists; First the obvious; digitization has meant a decrease in equipment-based jobs. Audio and video editing can now be done by a reported or producer, videotapes no longer require lighting or sound technicians and a TV studio can be replaced by a big desktop set up known as ‘Parkervision’, which needs just one director/switcher. For example, reporters at ‘Canadian Press’ are expected to file copy, then do a voice report for radio, and shoot video as well. Sometimes they do online work after that. Ultimately meaning the development in the online departments hasn’t made up for the huge losses of more traditional work. The term ‘citizen journalism’ has also had an impact on the job potential for journalists, seeing a growth in numbers of amateur columnists and opinion writers; the ability to write and report news becoming less of a novelty for those in the profession.

The decline of salaries for journalists mainly concerns freelance journalists; their pay rates have shifted and have rapidly declined over the past decade. Over the last 30 years there have been fewer clients and engagers for the journalist to sell to. It has become evident that young, new-on-the-scene journalists are the most