Professionalism of journalist in mediaconvergence conditions: transformation,evolution, upgrade?

This article discusses the transformation ofprofessional journalists in the process of media-convergence. At the turn of the century creativeactivity of journalists was transformed under the influence of electronic media and the digitalrevolution.In the chaos and stress the most important value is adequate navigation and new technologies. Inthe second half of the first decade of the 21st century this kind of a tool was a converged edition.Convergence is a response to new challenges of the era of mass media.Under the influence of convergence the editorial processes are becoming more tech, in separatemedia technologies they begin to replace journalists. In general, there is a process of technologizationof correspondents' work: it is less creative and more technical. The question of suiting the format isposed as the main one: the technical means are becoming the most objective sources of information,and the author's uniqueness can be sidelined. As a result, most journalists work more on processing thecontent than on performing reporter's functions directly.But the article concludes that technology does not always narrow the field for creative work. Todo this, journalists should not be enslaved by formats, they must learn to use new platforms and tools.The profession becomes more complicated, refined and requires more skills.However, the transition to new platforms is not easy. Firstly, there is resistance of journalists,who find it difficult to adapt to new formats. Secondly, new type journalists are not trained at thefaculties of journalism. There is still no clear understanding of what a journalist of a convergedperiodical should be able to present. However, the key function of journalists (the formation of theagenda and interpretation of events) does not change. Professional constants also include moral andethical principles, professional skills, desire for perfection. In order to meet these requirements ajournalist must be able to find facts on the Net, write much in the shortest time possible, know at leastone foreign language, be able to work with graphics editors. The author concludes that to overcome thecrisis, journalists need to adapt as quickly as possible to the current changes. To do this, journalistsneed new concepts and strategies.

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