At a time when information and communication technologies offer unprecedented possibilities to collect, process and disseminate information and messages, journalism and news media are in dire straits. This is paradoxical given that these same technologies are a dream come true for the news business. Media companies have invested massively in technology at the expense of their intellectual capital. Journalists are under increased pressure to produce more content and feed the cross-media platform. One major consequence of the multiplatformisation of journalism is a worrying increase in "noise". Professor Heinderyckx’s contention is that news media audiences are affected by three distinct varieties of noise: (1) proliferation of channels, (2) inadequate selection and (3) suboptimal reporting. Saving the news business might therefore require to aim for a "noiseless" form of journalism.
François Heinderyckx is professor and director of the Department of Information and communication sciences at Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) where he teaches media sociology and political communication. He is also President of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) and President-elect of the International Communication Association (ICA). His research interests include journalism, audience research, political communication and media literacy.