In the context of NFT technology application, the opportunities and risks faced by the journalism industry

Author: Zhang Sen (Professor and doctoral supervisor of Guangming University of Political Science and Law from China University of Political Science and Law) Jin Yexian (Master's Graduate School of Guangming School of Press and Communication, China University of Political Science and Law)

Source: "Young Reporter", No. 15, 2022

Throughout the history of human news communication, whenever a new technology appears, it will bring great changes in the industry. NFT (full name Non-FUNGIBLE token) is the "intangible homogeneous tokens". Its essence is a cryptocurrency with the blockchain as the underlying structure, so it has a data-based structure, distributed storage, encryption algorithm and consensus mechanism mechanism Prime ministers [1]. After becoming a digital asset through "NFT", the content attached to the only rights voucher and records of transactions and modifications, so as to be "confirmed". This technical characteristics of NFT have attracted the attention of many industries. It is called the "first year of NFT" in 2021. The emergence of this new technology has also had a significant impact on the journalism.

The application of NFT technology in the journalism industry

The collection and transaction of digital art is the main application scenario of NFT technology. In March 2021, some foreign news media institutions tried the Water NFT market. American news website Quartz sold a report in the form of NFT, claiming that this was the first news report sold in NFT [2]. Subsequently, the New York Times, Time magazine and many other American media deployed NFT products. Many domestic news media institutions have also tried the distribution of digital collections. News digital collections are a type of digital publication, which are issued by news media institutions with NFT technology in the blockchain. In December 2021, Xinhua News Agency will be released in a limited edition in the form of China's first set of news digital collections, which marks the official entry of the "national team" in my country's news media institutions to officially enter the NFT digital collection market. On July 6, 2022, the "Digital Collection Application Reference" (hereinafter referred to as the "Reference"), edited by the National Press and Publication Agency's Science and Technology and Standard Comprehensive Laboratory Blockchain Copyright Application Center, was published, which aims to be related to the relevant areas of the digital collection industry. The blockchain platform, the distribution platform and the application of users, and the supervision of relevant national departments provide theoretical reference. "Reference" defines digital collections as a "new form of digital publication", and is divided into two types: "blockchain works copyright" and "blockchain digital publishing products". Different types of products apply different specifications Essence

The news digital collections issued by my country's news media are essentially different from foreign NFT products. The distribution of foreign NFT products is based on a completely decentralized public chain. Digital collections issued by my country's news media are based on controllable private ownership or alliance chains. Foreign NFT products are traded with homogeneous tokens in Bitcoin, and can be traded freely between users. Digital collections issued by domestic news media are traded in RMB or digital RMB, and they cannot be performed between users after the transaction. Circulation. Based on the differences in regulatory regulations, there are differences in the transfer of rights relationship after transaction. Although the NFT digital collections issued by the news media in my country are not completely decentralized, the application of NFT technology as a news media institution is involved in the initial scene of the Yuan universe. News digital collections are exploratory significance in the future practice of the news industry.

NFT technology brings opportunities to the journalism industry

The significance of NFT technology is to "confirm" the digital assets on the blockchain. In the journalism industry with content as the core resources, the NFT of news content is possible to sell content sales in the blockchain in the blockchain. NFT technology can also directly act on the process of news production. Through its characteristics such as traceability and non -tampering to ensure the authenticity of the news, the use of its "confirmation" value provides guarantee for the practice of crowdsourcing news.

(1) News resources NFT brings new profit possibilities. In "Reference", digital collection products are divided into two types: "blockchain works copyright" and "blockchain digital publishing products". Corresponding to this, the "NFT" of the news media institutions can from the content IP Two aspects of operation and news content publishing are the channels for their own profitability.

Compared with other institutions and individuals, having a large number of on -site news resources is a unique advantage of news media institutions. However, with the shift of news hotspots in practice, news events can easily become "old news", and the on -site information is missing again. The release of news digital collections has made "old news" re -value in the blockchain. NFT technology can not only be used for the content IP of the news media agency, but also become a new form of content payment. News media agencies can store news content NFT on the blockchain, innovate the traditional member system and subscription system on the blockchain platform, make full use of the security of distributed systems to protect user rights, and also protect the news media The institution's copyright and profit collection of the news content.

Therefore, although the current application of news media agencies for NFT technology is still in the exploration stage, with the maturity of technology, digital collections may become a stable way to collect the news media. The attention of the news media institutions returns to the quality of the news content itself.

(2) A verification of authenticity and the realization of crowdsourcing news. The use of NFT technology can be expanded from the process of news presentation to the link of news production. The guarantee of the underlying technology such as the hash algorithm and smart contracts will make the audience more trust the authenticity of the news. The application of blockchain technology has greatly increased the cost of tampering on the content of each link, and the modification of each content is recorded in a distributed system, ensuring that each change in the content of the blockchain is checked. Essence For the first time, the blockchain liberated humans from the old thinking that must be relying on a person and an institution to realize each other's trust [3]. The source can be traced back and cannot be tampered with, and the authenticity of the news has been guaranteed at the technical level. The use of NFT technology is also possible for the realization of crowdsourcing news. Cross -bag news is the form of users to participate in news production by providing UGC. It uses collective wisdom to collect and verify information, report stories, or make choices in news production [4]. After the user provides the content of the content provided, it generates the only digital ownership certificate corresponding to it. Blockchain technology can faithfully record the number of contributions, time and contribution of each creator to the proportion of the entire work, and then distribute the copyright interests through smart contracts [5] to complete the information interoperability and transaction between users and news media The rights of users and news media are guaranteed in both directions. In addition, problems in the practice of crowdsourcing news in the past can also seek solutions in the blockchain through NFT technology.

News media agency issuance NFT digital collections

Multiple challenges you face

NFT technology is set up on the blockchain based on the concept of decentralization, allowing news media to interact with users in completely different technical logic with traditional Internet or social media. News Digital collections, as the rights transfer of rights during the circulation between news media and users, still have a blurred area. The gap in the technology itself also makes the issuance of news digital collections security risks. At the same time, the public's cognition of NFT technology has a gap in the industry's exploration practice. It is easy to have a negative impact on the image of the news media institution, which threatens the publicity of the journalist.

(1) Public risks under the gap in technical gaps. Blockchain and NFT digital collections are emerging things born in the digital world. At present, my country's related laws and regulations are not perfect. The transaction process of digital collections involves the transfer of various rights relationships such as intellectual property rights and property rights. However, the news media is public and requires the news media to provide information for the public, maintain and serve the public interest of the public. The monopolization of news works is obviously conflicting with this. Therefore, what rights do users have obtained after buying the NFT digital collections with news works as the content, how to divide the boundaries between the news media and their respective rights, and how to ensure the copyright of the work of the news and the right to use the journalism. Need to be re -evaluated.

In addition, although NFT technology provides "confirmation" to digital assets on the blockchain, it does not provide technical guarantee for all aspects of the right to identify and protect rights. For example, in the protection of intellectual property rights, the blockchain technology itself can only prove the uploading documents and upload time, and the "originality" identification of the creative results is incomparable. In addition, blockchain technology can ensure that the transaction process cannot be tampered with, but the publicity effect of copyright transfer is not available. [6] The operating rules in the blockchain itself are guaranteed by technology. At present, the blockchain system is facing a variety of security attacks. It lacks effective system -level security assessment methods, network warning technology, decision support capabilities, and post -disaster repair technology [7] There is a risk of being illegally used in news digital collections. Therefore, due to the requirements of the social responsibility of the news media agency and the gap in logic and security in the blockchain technology itself, the issuance of news digital collections brings certain risks to the publicity of the news media.

(2) The impact of NFT technology exploration on the media image. Since the birth of the "Creation Block" in 2009, blockchain technology has undergone more than ten years of development. The application of NFT as a blockchain technology has also developed a variety of product forms and business models. However The development of chain and NFT technology is still very cautious. In 2017, seven ministries and commissions such as the People's Bank of China and the CSRC jointly issued the "Announcement on Preventing the Risks of tokens to the Risks of tokens", which was called ICO (initial cryptocurrency issuance). In 2021, People's Daily's article "NFT: Link to the Yuan universe, or is it going to a big scam? ", Propose a scam for" drumming flowers ". At the same time, the development of NFT technology and digital collections has not been effectively linked to the real economy so far, and the purchase of digital collections cannot be tangible to return, and conflict with the consumer concept of ordinary public. The general public's impression of it is still mainly "cutting leeks". It can be seen that there is a gap between public cognition and industry exploration. The public practice of news media agencies is associated with the media image. The exploration of NFT technology and digital collections has the risk of degrading the image of the news media, affecting the credibility of the media, and it is also an impact on the publicity of the news media.

At the same time, the content of the NFT digital collections issued by the current news media is still relatively single, mostly news photography works, IP -derived images, etc., and the same content of the same content is large. The scarcity of scarcity conflicts. In addition, most of the digital collections issued by news media agencies are mostly based on the alliance chain and private chain. They are paid with legal currency rather than homogeneous tokens and cannot be traded among users. Therefore, NFT digital asset transactions are conducted. Inside the "currency circle", the value of digital collections in news media institutions is also controversial. Digital collection of news media institutions

Prevention of public risk

The release of the "Reference" is an attempt to incorporate the digital collection market into the standardized track, but it cannot provide a complete solution to the complex risks in the application of NFT digital collections. In the process of developing NFT news digital collections, the news media needs to clarify the nature of the right relationship of news digital collections during the circulation process, and avoid homogeneous content to make news digital collections just a profitable tool. Publicity of news media agencies. At the same time, news media agencies need to make up for the technical gap of NFT at the technical level to reduce operating costs, while exploring the new application form of NFT news collection.

(1) Clarify the significance of "confirmation value" to news media and users. The biggest difference between digital collections under the NFT technology framework and other digital resources is its "confirmation value" attached. The rights exist only on the private chain or alliance chain. Therefore, news media agencies need to clarify the user's rights and the boundaries of the rights attached to the news digital collection, and to clarify the true meaning of the "confirmation value" of digital assets brought by NFT technology.

At present, the mainstream media has not yet achieved a complete chain business from content confirming to monetization flow, but because the entry threshold and cost are controllable, it is undoubtedly a very good opportunity to reshape content value [8]. News media agencies should tap the needs of users on the blockchain to avoid the homogeneity of the content of the news, avoid the homogeneity of content, improve the content quality and uniqueness of digital collections, improve the user experience, and make news digital collections worthy of payment news content and IP Derivatives. At the same time, news media agencies also need to find ways to empower the real economy by digital collections in practice.

In addition, as a news media carrying publicity, it is also necessary to clarify whether the "confirmation value" of the news collection of the news digital collection is exclusive and exclusive to the user. , So as not to make news digital collections a tool for speculators to make a profit.

(2) Improve the technical system and develop a new scene of NFT digital collections under the framework of the universe. Because NFT uses blockchain technology as a framework, its operation process is implemented and security guarantee. If you want to maximize the potential for the development of NFT technology to promote the development of the journalism, not only requires the self -reconstruction of the journalism, but also requires the technology itself. Improved. In addition to the technical gaps of the aforementioned security, early warning and repair, the huge costs of the operation and repair of NFT and blockchain technology themselves also need to seek cutting plan. Taking the smart contract relied on the NFT Digital Collection Exchange as an example, once the unmodified intelligent contract appears vulnerabilities, developers can only choose to re -build a smart contract. Compared with the vulnerability repair under the centralized logic, it requires huge manpower and material resources And financial resources. Therefore, it is important to increase the flexibility and security of NFT technology applications from the technical level, and reduce maintenance costs, which is very important to provide security guarantee and technical support for the integration of journalism and blockchain technology.

The 3D virtual information space of the Yuan universe has visibility, synergy, durability and interoperability. It provides an instant and shared social context for integrating information resources, integrating multi -media content, and realizing big data cloud computing [ 9]. Blockchain and NFT technology, as the infrastructure built by the Yuan universe, provided the "admission ticket" for the settlement of the Yuan universe community for news media institutions. At present, some news media agencies not only issue digital collections, but also build a digital collection trading platform. The application form of news digital collections is not limited to digital assets of news content and IP derivatives. For example, under the framework of the Yuan universe, NFT news digital collections can help immersive news presentation, and interactive interaction into the development of NFT news digital collections. Among them, the user gets an immersive interactive experience when consumption of digital content; and the "confirmation" of NFT technology can be used to set up a blockchain community with news digital collections as the core. The digital collections are displayed to form a "news exhibition hall" on the blockchain with publicity, which truly achieves "leaving a digital commemorative for the news."

Conclusion

Different from the change from Web1.0 to Web2.0, blockchain technology as the underlying framework of NFT is no longer a simple iteration of traditional Internet technology, but the development of digital technology revolution. The prediction of the journalistic prospects should not be considered according to the previous Internet logic. As a "center" for providing content services, news media agencies still need to think about how to integrate the logic of blockchain technology to be centralized into the process of production and circulation of news content. Otherwise, new technologies cannot promote more revolutionary innovation. At the same time, the publicity of the journalism industry is not only reflected in the report and presentation of news content, but also in various public services such as science popularization, education, and intangible cultural heritage provided by news media institutions. For example, in May 2022, the Ninth Procuratorate of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the News Office, and Procuratorate co -sponsored the "Minor Rule of Law Hand -painting Gallery" event. The 90 outstanding works after the screening were selected as the "Digital Collection of the Law Gallery Gallery Gallery "It was distributed for free to the public in June. Blockchain technology has reshaped public service scenarios in various aspects. Public journalism, which carries publicity, can also explore more possibilities to apply NFT technology to public life.

Reference format for this article:

Zhang Sen, Jin Yexian. NFT Technology's application background The opportunities and risks faced by the news industry [J]. Young reporter, 2022 (15): 68-70.

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